


What did you expect?

by Claire07



Category: Holby City
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2019-07-20 16:46:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 49
Words: 168,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16141382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Claire07/pseuds/Claire07
Summary: Bernie is a single mum of 2 who has to move and settle her children onto a new school.





	1. New beginnings.

**Author's Note:**

> With thanks to Anne for the pictures and Natalie for giving me the confidence to write this.

Bernie is 28 years old, she is a mother of 2.   
Cameron is 8 and Charlotte aged 6. 

She has recently moved to Holby since divorcing the children father after months of abuse, both physical and mental abuse. They used to live in London, but was moved out of the area by the police and a volunteer group that helps abused women. Rescued more like. Bernie’s face was like a balloon, she couldn’t open her eyes properly, she had a fractured jaw, broken nose and the list went on the further down her body they got.   
It was Cameron who raised the alarm after his mum couldn’t wake up and his dad had gone back to the pub.  
Marcus, Bernie’s now ex-husband is in jail after pleading guilty for the attack and will be there for at least the next 5 years.

Ms Serena Campbell aged 27, is a single woman with no children. Well not anymore anyway.   
Elinor, her only child died about 2 years ago (aged 6) from a hit and run accident.   
Edward her ex-husband, should have been looking after her. However he was in a drunken stupor, asleep on the sofa. He forgot to pick her up from school, so she walked home alone. She was hit right outside of his house when she got struck a speeding car.

Serena currently has custody of her nephew Jason aged 9. His mother died a few months back from cancer, Serena didn’t even know they existed until a social worker contacted her.   
Serena’s mother gave her sister away in an open adoption and they found her as she was never formally adopted by the other couple. Her mother kept sending letters to the family hoping that her daughter one day would write back, but all of the letters went unopened except for the one that the social workers opened, to get her mothers details from. Sadly her mother died just before her sister, so they never got to see each other.  
Jason has just moved in after his carer had a stroke which has left him unable to look after Jason. As Jason has Aspergers Syndrome, which as a teacher she knows something about the condition, but knowing about it and living with someone who has it is completely different. He currently attends a school for children with special needs and are gifted. Jason is highly intelligent, loves maths and history. They have told her that he has a photographic memory too.

 

Ms Campbell is Cameron’s new teacher at Holby Academy. Bernie, Charlotte and Cameron met with the new teachers the day before the school term started so they could get to know the new school and teachers.   
It was suggested that they do this by the social worker as Cameron is very clingy with his mum. Strangers have been in and out of his life since this all happened, and they moved to Holby 7 weeks ago, after the court case ended.

A new school and a new house are causing him so much disruption that he is scared to be alone or without his mum. Charlotte doesn’t really mind, she is quieter than Cameron but makes friends easily enough and she didn’t see the state that her mum was in as she was whisked to a friends before Bernie was taken to hospital.

Holby Academy is a small village school that has fewer than 100 children in from nursery age to year 6. There are 6 main teachers, and Mr Hansen the headteacher who takes time out every week to teach at least one class for an afternoon. 

Mr Griffin takes year 6, strict but loves sports so Cameron will enjoy his playtimes if he gets picked for the sport teams. 

Ms Naylor, takes year 5, the year above Cameron, she is a bit of a dragon but the kids secretly love her.

Ms Campbell takes year 4, again a strict teacher but she loves to nurture them like a mother hen. Just what he needs for now.

Ms Effanga takes year 3. She is bright and fun, loves music and dancing. You will always find her in the small hall doing something fun.

Mr Copeland is a NQT who is about to teach his first class, Charlottes class Year 2. Not much yet known about him except that he likes to games, and builds things out of cardboard and stuff.

Finally there is Mr Digby, he is also a NQT about to take on the youngest of them all, the Year 1’s. He hopes they are at least toilet trained, but Miss Sherve (his teaching assistant) has warned him not to expect that at all, or children able to eat with a knife and fork either…..he is still in shock.

Bernie, Cameron and Charlotte turned up at the school for 9am, Bernie is usually always late since leaving the army, but today she has managed to get them all there on the agreed time. She was determined to make a positive start to her life as a single mum.  
Mr Hansen was at the front door waiting for them to arrive, he buzzed them through the school gate and opened the door when they arrived down the long path.   
Cameron’s hands were shaking in his mothers, Charlotte was skipping carelessly down and greeted her new Head Teacher with a smile and a hello. 

Bernie shook his hand before entering and thanked him for this, “Ms Wolfe, it is my absolute pleasure, we are here for the children and their needs will always come first. Shall we take a small tour of the school. Drop Charlotte off with Mr Copeland her new teacher then we shall go and see Ms Campbell.” Bernie smiled, Charlotte still dancing away singing to herself and Cameron hiding behind his mum, holding on for dear life.

The tour was short as the school is relatively small, 7 classrooms, they playground, 2 halls, 3 offices and the staff room.   
Mr Hansen made them all a drink before taking them all to meet their respective teachers.   
Charlotte heard music playing loudly and wanted to go and see, Miss Shreve passed the staff room so he asked her to take Charlotte to see Ms Effanga - it was always her that any noise came from. Morven (Miss Shreve) held out her hand and whisked her away.

“Now Cameron,” Mr Hansen said in a light tone “I am going to take you and your mum to go and see Ms Campbell your new teacher, but your mum can only stay for a short while……lets say until the first bell.” Cameron looked at him with wide fearful eyes.   
“Your mum will stay here in the school, in fact she will be coming back here to the staff room, so you will know where she is.” He patted the chair next to him, Cameron sat on it, he was now on his own seat between his mum and Mr Hansen - a positive step Bernie thought. 

“When the bell rings, that is break time, you can come back here for a drink of juice and I may just find some of Ms Naylors chocolate biscuits.” Cameron nods - another positive sign.   
“Then when the bell next goes you can go back with Ms Campbell until lunch time, if you are ok with that then your mum will leave after lunch and return when the final bell goes at 3:30.” Cameron looks to the floor, thinks about it and nods. Bernie smiles and they are taken to his new classroom.

Bernie is taken aback by the sight of his new teacher. She is of medium height, curvy in all the right places, just a little shorter than her. Ms Campbell has a pixie cut brown hair with grey streaks running through it, beautiful brown eyes and a smile that would knock anyones socks off. 

Ms Campbell strides over to them, kneels down to Camerons height and holds out her hand. “Very nice to meet you Cameron, I am Ms Campbell, would you like to look around your new classroom?” Cameron shakes her hand, smiles and stands looking around. “You can go in and look wherever you want Cameron” so he does.   
For the first time he leaves his mothers side and looks around the room.

“Ms Wolfe a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to year 4. The house of madness.” Bernie chuckles, takes her hand and shakes firmly. “Come in and take a seat, they are a little small I’m afraid, but they won't break if you sit on them.”   
Bernie takes a seat next to Ms Campbell, she looks around at the blank walls. 

It’s strange to see the blank walls of the classroom that are like the blank walls of her life now. Starting afresh, clean slate so to say, ready to change direction. Serena (Ms Campbell) can see the cogs turning while keeping an eye on a wandering Cameron, Mr Hansen has now left them.   
“Penny for them” she asks and brings Bernie out of her deep thoughts. “I’m glad we are here, away from the past and we can start again, like these walls, new good memories to make.” 

Serena places her hand over Bernie’s “I am glad you are all here, I have read the report, and I am here for you all, even if its just for a coffee and a chat to see how he is doing.” Bernie smiles and wraps her other hand over Serena’s. “Thank you, I don’t know many people here yet, so may just take you up on that offer, you may regret it.”   
Serena shook her head “anytime, well apart from when I am teaching of course, but then a coffee will always be welcome. You can help out with the class if you want a break from your four walls.” Serena suggests, knowing how lonely it can be on your own.   
Bernie smiled and nodded, “I may just take you up on that.”

The first bell went and they all walked over to the staff room where they met all of the other teachers, Ms Naylor gladly handed over a chocolate biscuit each as long as they promised not to tell the other children. They nodded thanked her, and sitting with their juice and chocolate biscuit Cameron and Charlotte started to talk about their new teachers. Bernie listens carefully while speaking to Charlotte’s new teacher. Bernie likes him, he is funny and has a dry sense of humour, she knows Cameron will like him, they are big fans of kids tv shows - 60 Deadly creatures or something.

The bell signals break time is over, Bernie stays where she is and Cameron and Charlotte are whisked away by their new teachers, Cameron surprisingly goes with Ms Campbell, not even looking back. 

Mr Hansen pushes a sheet of paper in front of her, “fill this DBS form in and then you can help out whenever you would like, starting tomorrow.” Bernie nods, fills it in and hands it straight back to the receptionist as she doesn’t want to disturb Mr Hansen, she smiles and puts it in his tray “welcome to the team, Essie by the way.” Bernie shakes her hand and introduces herself.  
Bernie is now at ease, her children seem happy, happier than they have done in a long time and it’s not even lunch. A clean slate for them all.

Bernie doesn’t leave the school, instead she decides to help Mo (Ms Effanga) and Arthur (Mr Digby) set up the rest of their class ready for the new influx of children, while doing this she finds out that Mo has just returned from maternity leave after having her son and Arthur is currently single, his eyes however track a certain assistant wherever she goes. Morven however seems oblivious to his affections towards her, but thinks she likes Arthur too, they have only known each other for 6 weeks, since the end of term. They both have been coming in a bit each day to prepare.

Jac (Ms Naylor) pops by and asks for some help with her display wall, she just needs another pair of hands. Bernie is rewarded with extra chocolate biscuits from her secret stash along with some decent coffee. Bernie learns that she too is a single mum to Emma, she is in a different school as she didn’t want her to become too complacent with her being around all the time. Bernie takes the hint and tells her that she will only work in her children’s class only if it is necessary.

The final bell goes and she meets her children in the hall, Cameron finally smiling as he holds Ms Campbells hand. Charlotte is singing away, something from Moana she seems to think. “Are you both ready for tomorrow?” She asks as they go through the front door of the school “YEAH” shouts Charlotte, Cameron just nods and smiles back to Ms Campbell who is waving at them through her classroom window.


	2. First day of school.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day doesn't go quite as planned.  
> Maybe that is good.

The first day does not happen without its fair share of hitches. 

Cameron feels sick, as the nerves kick in again meeting new people. Charlotte spills her cereal down her dress and needs to get changed again and there is a broken down vehicle that is blocking the main road. 

“Its Ms Campbell” Cameron chirps as he can see his teacher walking on the road, talking animatedly on her mobile, Bernie pulls over just on front of her and offers her a lift into school. “That would be wonderful, the tow company will be picking the car up in about an hour, I can’t wait with it, so a lift would be great.” Serena gratefully replies. Bernie smiles, Cameron gets out so he can sit in the back seat and offers his new teacher the front passenger seat, next to his mum. 

“Thank you so much for this, however I need to try and make plans to get home, Jason will be dropped off by his school bus and I have to be there when he arrives.” Serena is already on her mobile looking for hire car companies when Bernie happily replies, “I will take you home, it looks as though its on the way home anyway. Which means you will be home in plenty of time before Jason gets back. We can car share until yours is fixed if you like?” Bernie looks slightly panicked, thinking that she will reject the offer. 

“That sounds great” Serena replies eagerly. “Only if I can buy you a drink some time.” It was not a question, it was a statement. “We shall both get someone to look after the children and we can hit the bar and drink it dry of shiraz. We might need it before the week is out, and today is the first day. Oh Lordy help us.” 

Its as easy as that Bernie thinks, smiling to her new friend. Something that she hasn’t had since she was last at school, ‘a friend’. She has had plenty of colleagues and acquaintances, but friends are different. Friends are those you can go out with to have a drink, have a coffee while sitting there on their sofa, putting the world to rights, talking about new love interests that are around them.   
She wonders what Serena’s house looks like, as if it is as neat and tidy as her classroom.

They arrive with just a few minutes to spare, Serena places a kiss to Bernie’s cheek before she gets out of the car, “thank you for rescuing me”. A bye to Charlotte and see you shortly to Cameron, she heads running inside. Not wanting to be late on the first day.

Charlotte says goodbye to her mum and Cameron as soon as she is through the gate, she can see Mr Copeland and skips straight towards him with a beaming smile.   
Cameron still walking closely behind Bernie, not holding hands because which young boy would ever be seen holding hands with his mum, especially in a new school?   
Bernie sends him off on his own onto the playground, as she casually makes her way over to the staffroom to see where she will be placed to help out today. 

Mr Hansen informs her that she will be with Ms Campbell for this morning and Ms Effanga for the afternoon. Bernie smiles, nods and heads off to Ms Campbells classroom, she sees Cameron was just about to go straight in. “You have to wait with the other children” she tells him, just before he opens the door, he nods and waits by it as she enters.

“I have been asked to work with you this morning, something about sorting out their new books.” Bernie says as she closes the door behind her, she startles Serena who whips around upon hearing her voice.  
“Yet again, saving my graces,” she waves her hands in the air, while going a deep shade of red, caught in a day dream.   
If that had been of the children she wouldn’t have been happy.   
She goes on to explain which books the children need, who needs a little more help than the others and who are the troublemakers.

“I expect you to keep them in line Major.” Serena winks, Bernie chuckles and replies “Yes Sergeant” and salutes. “The Sergeant is always more scarier than the Major, I just dish out the punishment.” Serena properly laughs at her statement she finally retorts. “Oh Major, don’t put ideas in my head.” They both are now blushing, but neither have a clue why, it was such an innocent statement……… Now both staring at each other until the loud shrewd noise of the bell to mark the start of the school day, makes them both jump out of the reviver.  
The children are all lined up outside the classroom, waiting to be called in. Ms Campbell stands by the door and waits until everyone is quiet. She calls them in one by one, telling them exactly where to sit.   
She made the mistake once of letting them choose…..never again.  
It was also easier as the children who needed help were spread out and not so obvious to their fellow class mates, which reduced the bullying in the school a lot, last year.

She introduces Ms Wolfe, their new teaching assistant.   
“If you find her wandering around the school lost, please return he back to me,” the class laughs as at some point at their time in school they have all got lost. Poor Jasmine once got locked in the art cupboard, misplacing it for the paper room (where all the spare books and paper are kept.). She was only found by the receptionist Essie, who heard crying as she was inputting the school dinner requests at the kitchen.   
She wasn’t in there 5 minutes, but she is still frightened to go in there now.

All of the children are told to put their names on the books that Ms Wolfe is about to give out and they are all to wait further instructions. There are several books to fill in, more than Bernie ever remembers using in high school, never mind junior school. She helps them all to fill in where and what Ms Campbell tells them too.

They are all instructed to claim their new pencil case that she has prepared for them (out of her own pocket). Each child has a new pencil case with all have the equipment that they will need, they all the same so no one can argue, not one child is treated differently even if they bring in their own. If they do they are told to keep it in their drawer until playtime or lunchtime.

Next they have to all visit the school library, each child is to pick a book, a sticky dot colour, indicating from which books they can choose.   
Ms Wolfe has the red dots, the children that can read without any assistance and Ms Campbell has the yellow dots the children who still need a little help.   
They sit next to each other, waiting for the children to show them what they have picked. 

The library is quite big, several tables dotted around, enough for the whole class to sit, there are even computers around the back wall. But they sit so close to each other, arms touching, knees knocking.   
Once all of the children have a suitable book, Ms Campbell allows them 10 minutes reading time. She uses this quiet time to ask Bernie what she wants to drink at playtime.   
Only on the condition that Serena would make it and bring it over if she escorted the children to the playground. Bernie agrees “I would love a coffee,” Serena turns around and whispers in her ear “strong and hot? Your coffee, just like how I like it, strong and hot!” Bernie blushes and nods, leaning back to make eye contact, only to be once again disturbed by the bell for playtime.

Bernie takes the children to the playground, after she takes their reading books from them and heads straight to the classroom. Serena soon follows with 2 strong and hot coffees and a pack of stolen digestives.   
They sit on the comfy chairs in the reading corner of the classroom.

“How are you finding it?” Serena asks. “We haven’t scared you too much have we?” Bernie smiles and shakes her head.   
“Its been good, different from teaching a bunch of soldiers, but it is similar too.” Serena nods her head understanding to some degree.   
“So can we tempt you to stay on permanently? We will have a position here soon, I am just waiting for Hansen to get the Governors to agree, this class has a few that need extra help, so I will need a second pair of hands.”

Bernie’s face goes from surprise, to panic. 

Serena places her hand on Bernie’s forearm and strokes it. “You will be great Major, you have a great deal of knowledge, you know how to talk to them, you have shown that already. I think you would be a great asset to our school, to my class.” 

Bernie is still speechless, she has moved here a matter of weeks ago, lonely, no job, trying to settle her children and this just jumps into her lap. She hasn’t got the job yet, it doesn’t exist technically yet.

“Erm, yes……I think it would do me good.” Bernie replies watching Serena stroke her arm, not pulling away.  
“Good, great, if we get the go ahead, I will tell Hansen…..that I want you….I mean…….that I would like you as my assistant.” Going cherry red now in her cheeks, withdrawing her hand quickly placing it back on her mug of coffee.

And that was the end of playtime.   
Serena went to collect the children while Bernie set out the things for the literacy lesson.

The rest of that morning went rather quickly, so quickly they hardly managed to talk in a sentence with more than 5 words in, not that they needed to. They seemed to have some understanding of what each other was thinking or needing without a full sentence being spoken.

The bell goes for lunch and they walk over to the staff room together. Lunchtime is a busy affair, all the staff talking about their new children. Advice flying everywhere on who to look out for, who is excelling and needs to be stretched and who is lazy. The room is a buzz, but Serena can’t seem to take her eyes off Bernie as she is now currently talking to Mo about what they are doing this afternoon.  
She is so engrossed she doesn’t hear Mr Hansen talking to her, asking her about Bernie and how she is with the children.   
Her face is flushed, her breathing a little laboured, her eyes fixated on the blonde sitting directly in front of her.

“Ms Campbell, I have some good news.” Hansen tries again, nope still nothing from Serena. “The governors have approved your request.” He carries on, she tilts her head in his direction but still is silently gazing at Bernie.   
He has enough so uses a tactic that knows will draw her attention to the matter in hand. “Serena, you’ve got a bottle of shiraz that has just exploded on the floor.” That did the trick, her head whipped around to look at him, then the floor only to be met by a smirk on his face. “What?” She asks confused.

Hansen smiles fondly, “I said the governors have approved the funding for a classroom assistant.” Serena smiles back at him and then looks back over to Bernie.   
“I would like to have Ms Wolfe if I can, I know she will have to apply and be interviewed, but she is great with the children, they have all taken to her.” Right on cue, a child comes and knocks on the door asking for Ms Wolfe, she goes with the child to see what it is they want.   
“See Henrik, she has been here half a day and the kids already love her.” He nods as he watches Serena, watch Bernie leave hand in hand with the child.

Bernie was wanted by most of Ms Campbells class, they wanted her to play battleships on the whiteboard. She indulges them and looses graciously with an over emphasised roll of the eyes and flops to the chair.   
The children are all laughing, including her son. She hasn’t seen him like this in such a long time, making new friends and laughing at his mothers demise.

The afternoon bell goes and Bernie heads off to Mo’s class only to be stopped by Mr Hansen. “Ms Wolfe, can I have a word in my office please.” He uses his arm to the direction of his office, she wonders if she is already in trouble, she is about to apologise when he stops her.

“We have a vacancy that has just opened. I would like to offer you the first refusal…..but I do have certain conditions that you may need time to consider first.”   
Bernie is speechless again, she nods to say she is listening.  
“Firstly, I would not move Cameron from the class as long as you can work with him.” She nods, that makes sense. 

“Secondly, you would need to do a little training, all in house to bring you up to speed on children with needs, not just those who need extra help, but also with the children who are gifted.” Bernie agrees and thinks it would be a great opportunity. 

“Thirdly, you will need to be put on the rota for playground and dinner hall duty. We all take turns, so it would only be fair if you did too.” Bernie smiles, she can do all of those things she thinks.   
“I wouldn’t want it any other way” was her reply.   
Mr Hansen shakes her hand, “Welcome to the team Ms Wolfe, better go and tell the good news to Ms Campbell and start as you mean to go on, in her classroom….I will ask Miss Shreve to go to Ms Effanga’s class.” They both chuckle as they know that Mr Digby will be at a loss without her, but she will be a good soldier and do as she is told.

Bernie’s smile carries her through the door to once again startling Ms Campbell, Bernie wonders if this woman can be anything other than beautiful when she smiles.   
“Ms Wolfe, what can I do for you?” Serena asks making her way to Bernie.   
“I have been told that you are unfortunately stuck with me for the foreseeable.” Bernie shyly admits, wanting desperately to see Serena’s reaction.  
“Wonderful, let get you started over here then shall we.” Serena replies taking her by the hand and leading her to her desk, it numeracy this afternoon, and each child needs sheets handing out to them, that is her first task.   
“I’m glad I got my wish.” Serena whispers to Bernie.  
“I asked for you, wanted you……I mean as my assistant.” Serena just about recovers from her slip yet again.  
“Thank you” Bernie whispers as she compiles the sheets in order and starts to hand them out.


	3. The car ride

 

 

Charlotte was dozing on the backseat of the car, her first day was exhausting.  Cameron was chatting away telling Bernie and Serena all about the new friends that he had made, the football club after school and the athletic club too.  All of which he has put his name down to join, much to his mothers surprise.  

 

Her son has gone from being incredibly shy to being like his old self - a normal 8 year old boy.  Serena kept glancing at Bernie as she was driving along, giving her the odd direction every now and again, shortcuts if the traffic was bad, which today it was.  Bernie spoke little, just enjoyed the normality of family life.  

She was content in knowing that she now has a part time job, a new home, 2 healthy and happy children, a home without fear and new friends.  The majority of which all seemed to have happened in the last 48 hours.

 

“Thank you for today.”  Serena finally manages to get a word in after Cameron had ran out of steam, “I am glad you are with me.” Serena again blushes, her eyes flicker over the body of her new colleague, noticing the smile that wasn’t there yesterday ever growing, the creases in her eyes as she smiles, he hazel eyes as they catch each other just for a second before her eyes are drawn back to the road. Her messy but beautiful blonde wavy hair, that bobs as she walks her bouncy walk.  Finally her clothes, how they fit her perfectly to show off her figure.  

“My pleasure, glad to be on board.” She smiles at her new friend, “anything you need just give me a shout and I will give you a hand.  I don’t just mean at school neither.”  She would help Serena in anyway possible, thats what friends do.

 

“Take a left here and the third house on the right is mine.  The one with the dark blue door.”  Bernie does exactly that, indicates and pulls in front of Serena’s house.  Serena leans in, pecks Bernie on what was supposed to be her cheek but she faced her, it landed directly on her lips and murmured thank you until she realised where her lips were then promptly withdrew back startled.  “Anytime” Bernie whispered, “pick you up in the morning, say eight o’clock?” Trying to remain calm.  Serena nodded, placed a piece of paper in her hands and left the car quickly rushing to her door, nearly tripping over the gate as she went in.  Bernie giggled at this, nearly getting out of the car to help her fumbling friend but she has steadied herself before Bernie places her hand on the door handle.

Serena reaches the door with no further incidents, opens in and steps inside then turns to wave goodbye to Bernie and the children mouthing thank you once again.

 

Bernie places the piece of paper in her handbag and puts the Sat Nav on her phone so she can get home quickly.  She didn’t want Charlotte to sleep too long and needed to get them fed, bathed an asleep at a reasonable hour.  She is very surprised to find out that she lives 2 streets away, their gardens are joined at the end - not that she realises this just yet.  

 

She bundles a sleepy Charlotte in as Cameron makes his own way, offering to open the door for his mum.  Bernie hand him the key and makes her way with Charlotte in her arms and carrying most of the school bags in at the same time.  Charlotte is placed on the sofa to watch tv and is joined by Cameron while Bernie makes a start on their tea.

 

Bernie opens the backdoor as the smell of cooking onions starts to flow through the house, it is cottage pie for tea tonight.  She can hear children playing in the garden, something she wishes her children could do but that will have to wait until the weekend as it is overgrown and full of weeds and whatever else is lurking in the footlong plus grass.  

 

“Jason go and get changed please.” A familiar voice booms sounding exasperated, she hasn’t quite clicked in yet it is Serena.  “Ok Aunty Serena” booms a voice back, Bernie is taken aback by the closeness of their voices.  Jason’s voice low and loud moaning that he cannot watch his Horrible Histories programme until he has got changed out of his uniform into his play clothes.  

 

Bernie is brought out of her trance by the overspilling of water from her boiling potatoes.  The mince and mushrooms are next placed in the frying pan to brown, stirring every now and again between checking on her children and looking over the fence watching to who she now realises who it is, Serena potter around doing something in what she presumes is her kitchen.

 

Dinner is soon done and eaten, children bathed and put in their pyjamas ready to read their school books.  Something they have always done, usually sitting in front of the fireplace - not on today though as it is too hot - cuddled up all together on the sofa, reading to each other.  

This is why Charlotte is so far ahead with her reading, she watches her brother intently picking out words then remembering them.

 

Eight o’clock soon chimes and the children are packed off to bed, with a small cuddle and a kiss each.  Bernie heads back downstairs, finishes putting the dishes in the dishwasher and puts it on.  Realising she hasn’t put her phone on charge, she goes to her handbag placing her hand on the forgotten note.  

To her surprise it is Serena’s phone number, mobile and home with a few words “incase you ever need to call S x”

Bernie types out a sentence on her phone then deletes it.  She does this several times, then fixes on what she thinks is the right one. 

“Hi Serena, thanks for your number and for the past couple of days. Bernie x”  Yes a kiss goes on the end of every text she sends, fair enough it is mainly family and was Marcus, but it's habit.  Anyway Serena places one on the end of her note, she thinks to herself and sends it as half an hour has passed and she desperately needs a glass of wine.

 

Settling in on the sofa watching some old film she hears her phone ping, placing her nicely chilled wine down she goes back to the kitchen and sees the response from Serena. 

“Thank you for being my saviour today and the rest of the week. S x”  Serena has placed another kiss at the end of her message.  She looks up to see her staring at something with a wineglass in her hand too.  

Bernie smiles and replies “Don’t drink too much of that, we don’t want a grumpy hung over Ms Campbell now. B x ;-)”   Bernie chuckles as she sees Serena drop her phone and jumps, looking around to see how Bernie knows she is drinking wine.  

Then another text comes through Serena’s phone.   “I can see you ;-)” which then the wine glass goes down and Serena is checking again all around, suddenly noticing a shadow at the end of the garden opposite.  Serena opens the door, smiles, lifts her wine glass and nods.  Bernie doing exactly the same.  They wave to each other as they go back inside to which Bernie hears her phone ping again.  One word “night S x”.

 

The next morning Bernie nearly throws her alarm clock as it is blaring Radio 2 Chris Evans Breakfast show out.  Not used to the early mornings yet and neither are the children.  She uses the first half hour to make herself a cup of strong coffee, a necessity to start her day off right.  Filling the kettle she can see the silhouette of Serena doing exactly the same.  

 

Only Serena is wearing some sort of silk thin strapped nightie, her hair is sticking up at all angles and she is yawning.  What a delight to see first thing in the morning, Bernie smiles as she stands there watching her friend intently in her thin vest top and very short shorts.  She drinks her coffee at the back door, not realising she is staring at Serena, making mental notes of her every move.  

Serena is now filling what looks like a lunch box, then places it in a bag, takes a sip of coffee before taking cereal out of the cupboard by the window.

Serena hasn’t noticed Bernie yet, Bernie hopes she doesn’t, she is enjoying watching her go about her daily routine.

 

Coffee now drunk, it is time for Bernie to pack the children lunch boxes and bags.  It is PE today for Cameron, so she remembers to pack a bag for herself too.  Bernie then gets her children up, makes their toast with Nutella on it and places a juice down on the table too.  

They sit and talk about what they have planned for today and the rest of the week as they eat their breakfast.  Bernie tells them she is hoping to do some gardening at the weekend so will need to take several trips to the local recycling centre as it wont all fit in the gardening bin.  They both agree to help and ask for toys to go in their new garden.  Cameron wants football goals and a basket ball ring, Charlotte wants a playhouse and a trampoline.  She doesn’t promise them anything as she doesn’t know what it is like in the long grass.  The children are happy as she says she will try to do it for them.

 

Bernie pulls up outside of Serena’s just as the eight o’clock jingle plays on the car radio.  Bernie gets out of the car and knocks on for Serena, not wanting to be rude by pressing her car horn.  Serena opens the door with a bright smile and invites her in as she needs a hand carrying a few items, Bernie follows her through to the kitchen where there are several boxes of books and folders. 

“You have been busy.” Bernie nods towards the box as she picks it up easily. “Yes trying to get ahead of myself, all in here are their personal records, I try to update them once a week so it is not so bad come the end of term.  I will go through them one after school one night if you would like….get a head start on your training.”  Bernie beamed a smile back at her and nodded.  

 

She places another box on top of the one she already got and made her way to the car, thankfully Cameron got out and opened her the boot ready.

“Thank you Cameron.”  Serena said as she got in the car, I may need you to open the doors for us too when we get to school.  Cameron nodded and proceeded to tell his teacher what he was looking forward to in PE this afternoon, thinking her would be doing all sports today.

Bernie and Serena share a knowing smile, “I have remembered my PE kit too Ms Campbell.” Bernie played with her words, Serena blushed as a curl at the end of her mouth appeared, visions of Bernie in shorts and tight fitting t-shirt flew through her brain.  Finally managing a response “Oh I just change into my trainers, let them do all of the physical stuff, I tend to referee.”  Bernie gave a chuckle, “referee or waving a white flag to surrender.” Which in turn made Serena laugh too.

 

They managed to calm down as they reached the school car park, Bernie parking where Serena usually would, which thankfully is a lot closer to their classroom.  Cameron helping, Charlotte skipping to her friends Bernie and Serena haul the boxes into the classroom and get ready for the day ahead.


	4. Day 2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason has a bad day and Bernie helps Serena.

The morning went without a hitch, numeracy first then a break followed by literacy. The children quickly fallen back into the swing of being back in school and the structure it has. Books changed for those that needed it and help given to those who struggled with the extra work now being in year 4 it was soon lunchtime. Bernie and Serena decided to stay in the class room at lunch, one they had brought their lunches with them today and two they needed to prepare and discuss what they were doing in PE which was straight after lunch and assemble. 

“I think I am going to get changed here before the bell goes.” Bernie says as she is finishing the last of her tuna salad. She has a smear of mayonnaise on the corner of her mouth, Serena reaches over and swipes it then licks her thumb. Neither of them reacted to this gesture, Bernie’s gaze however lingered on the tongue that came out to lick her thumb before sucking it clean. A small cough broke her spell and she managed to draw her eyes away. “Yes thats fine I shall leave you too it.” Serena flustered as she got her bag out. “You don’t have to leave, I am used to changing in places like this, you have to in the army.” Serena nodded and turned her back slightly, still managing to see Bernie out of the corner of her eye, she is pretending to read one of the children work, clearly not managing properly as the page only has 2 sentences on, as most of the child’s work was on the previous page.

“Ready now, will I pass Ms Campbell?” Bernie said pulling herself upright from tying her laces. “Yes, very sporty.” Serena replied unconsciously licking her lips, taking in the view of the skin tight bottoms and vest top that accentuates her toned arms and body. Bernie places her bag back in the cupboard and reaches for Serena’s trainers, then taking a seat close to her friend. Serena needs to swap her shoes so she bends down, takes her high heeled shoes off and put her trainers on, having to use Bernie's knees to lever herself up, she accidentally rubs down her thigh. “Sorry, core strength isn’t what it used to be.” She murmured placing her hands back on her own legs.

The bell goes and Bernie goes out to collect the children so afternoon register can be taken. Alice takes the register back to Ms Harrison (Essie) while the rest make their way to the hall for assemble. Mr Hansen talks about friendship and bullying, the opening of the new nurturing room which they will all get to go in soon enough and welcomes Ms Wolfe officially to the children and staff. One song sung and they all left the hall to go back to the classrooms, Year 4 to change into their PE uniform and then back again to the hall to do their PE lesson.

Today was about team building and relay races. There was an odd number so Bernie offered to stand in to make the numbers equal. A game of rock paper scissors saw that she was on Camerons team much to his delight. But as she is an adult Ms Campbell tied her feet together to make it more difficult resulting in a cheer for the opposite team and booing from Cameron's team.   
“I shall make a note of this for later Ms Campbell.” Bernie whispered in her ear making sure that no children heard her, again going a bright beetroot red she coughed nervously, giving no further response, after all what do you say to that?

Camerons team did win despite Ms Campbell's best effort to sabotage Ms Wolfe’s attempts of throwing the ball in the net, Bernie was fixated on how Serena’s breasts bounced as she jumped to get the ball, missing on purpose a few times just to see it happen again and again. 

Next was the rainbow coloured parachute, they could have a game of catch and mouse. The mouse was hiding and crawling under the parachute and the cat was trying to catch it as they are crawling on top, whilst the children wave it gently up and down to hide the mouse. All children had a go, Alex was the last one to chose and he picked Ms Campbell. She did eventually capture the mouse, which meant that she was the mouse and gets to pick the cat. To make it fair, she picked Ms Wolfe of course.   
The children cheered as Bernie was chasing Serena around, Bernie caught her by pulling on her leg and dragging Serena towards her, then promptly slipping landing on top of her. It is a good job that the parachute was thick enough that they could not see the flustered faces of each other. “Sorry” Bernie scrambled to get up, pulling the parachute back to hold out her hand to get Serena up off the floor.

The last game was with lots of balls, they had to try and keep them all on the parachute as they woosh it up and down sending the balls flying in the air. Which took them up to the final break of the day.   
“You can all play in your PE kits and get dressed after playtime is up.” Ms Campbell declared walking to the kitchen to make a drink for Bernie and herself. Bernie headed straight back to the classroom to get changed, she was part way through when Serena entered backwards not realising that Bernie had no top on, just her bra.   
“Oh god sorry!” She stutters out but not bringing her eyes away from Bernie. She flings her shirt back on and takes the coffee from Serena who is still standing with her back against the door. “It’s ok, like I said I am used to it but if its making you uncomfort” was as far as she gets when Serena interrupts her “No, god no! Its fine honestly and for about the fifth time today she goes red.

The last dregs of the coffee is drank as the bell goes, Bernie again goes to fetch the children as Serena puts her trainers away and her high heeled shoes back on. The children enter and get changed really quickly, so they enjoy a story, which Serena tries to do with them at the end of the school day. 

Today its the start of Roald Dahl’s ‘The Twits’. One of Serena’s favourites as the children all make noises when the gross things are read out. Bernie sits there enthralled not in the story, in fact she can’t tell you a word that was said, she was entranced by the smooth velvety voice of the reader. Two chapters read and then the children took their places back at the desk. 

Homework given out with instructions for it to be brought in on Friday with no excuses. Bernie and Serena ensures that all instructions are written clearly in the children’s homework diaries and gives any extra help to those who don’t understand what the homework is about.

The final bell of the day goes and the children leave promptly. Cameron goes out with his friends and plays a little football with them while waiting for the late parents to come and collect their children. Bernie and Serena tidy the classroom up in near silence, only speaking when it is all done. Bags collected and they were nearly out through the door when Serena suddenly stops with her hand on the handle. “Thank you again for today.” Places a kiss on Bernie’s lips, not a full on kiss, just a peck, like anyone would do on another persons cheek. She promptly turns around and opens the door and leaves, leaving a surprised Bernie in tow.

The ride home was again filled with Cameron talking about the fun he had in PE, and that he would like to see his mum struggle more often, which made Serena smile. 

Serena showed her another route home, just incase the other two routes were jam packed. They found themselves very quickly outside Serena’s, another kiss to Bernie to say thanks, again on the lips she leaves and heads indoors waiting for Jason to arrive home.  
Bernie waves as she closes the front door and heads back home via the local supermarket, as she needed to get some groceries for their teas and lunch boxes for the rest of the week. 

Once home Cameron and Charlotte complete their homework and play a game while Bernie makes a start to get their tea ready. Burger, chips and beans today. Which means that she can spend some of her time gazing out of the kitchen window hoping for a glimpse of her friend.  
A text brings Bernie back from her day dreams, it is one from Serena. “Could I trouble you for a lift, Jason won’t get on the school bus. Something has happened at his school.” Bernie bundles the coats on the children promising them burger and chips from the chip shop if the are really good and sends Serena a text back. “I am on my way.”

The children stay in the car and wait for Bernie and Serena to come back, having been kept happy by a storybook CD, One of David Walliams, Gangster Granny, a favourite if theirs.  
Bernie and Serena head in to the headmasters office and is greeted with a stressed out Jason who is curled up in a ball and rocking, tapping his temple with his index finger muttering something no one can make out. Serena looks at Mr Jones for answers, to which he had none.   
“Jason was found like this in the classroom after everyone had left, the head count on the bus revealed he wasn’t there so a teacher went to look for him.” Was his only reason for Jason’s behaviour.

Bernie sat next to him and introduced herself. He didn’t look up until she said she was a friend of his aunts and that they had just moved in around the corner. “You’re Ms Wolfe.” He asked not lifting his head just yet, “I am and I would like to be a friend of yours too.” This was the point when he lifted his tear stained face.   
“You want to be a friend of mine?” He asked bewildered, no one ever told him they wanted to be his friend before. “Of course I do, and I think my children would want to be friends with you too. My Cameron loves Horrible Histories, do you like it too?” Jason nodded and held out his hand for Bernie to shake, she takes his hand “Jason Haynes nice to meet you.”   
“Lovely to meet you too Jason, I have heard so much about you from your aunt. Do you fancy coming for tea around mine, we are having burger and chips from the chip shop.” His eyes lit up asking for permission from his aunt who nodded, “you too of course” Bernie said, Serena beamed “I will pay, its the least I can do.”   
With that Bernie and Jason left to go to the car leaving Mr Jones and Serena to talk. It was left that Serena would try and get to the bottom of it and will speak to him the following morning. With that they all made their way to the local chip shop all deciding to eat in as a treat.

All of the children got on much to the surprise to Serena, Jason never really took to anyone before so quickly. She was glad though, managing to sit there a break to their routine, not complaining about missing whatever was on the tv today.   
“Did you get upset today at school?” Cameron asked, Jason nodded and looked down. “Its ok you can tell me and my mum, she helped me when I got upset at school.” Jason looked at him then his mum, “I got told I was a geek today at school by another boy.” Serena and Bernie looked at each other.   
Jason was very bright due to his Aspergers and could take some of the children taking their GCSE’s for a run for their money with the knowledge he already has.   
“That is a thing to be proud of Jason.” Cameron tells him, “If you are a geek then you can become a doctor or a lawyer or something like that. I want to be a doctor like my mum one day.” Jason returns with a big smile “really?” He asks, Cameron nods, “I love maths, history and Science. Would you like to come and look at my chemistry set one day?” Jason nods emphatically, Bernie squeezes Serena’s thigh to acknowledge how well they are all getting on. 

Charlotte gives off a big yawn and wipes her eyes. “Time for bed I think.” Serena says getting up to pay for their meals, the children put their coats on, Jason helping Charlotte with her zip that she still struggles with and heads back to the car. Children all fastened in Serena and Bernie meet at the boot. “Thank you for today, once again my saviour.” Serena hugs Bernie and as what has now become their usual a peck placed on Bernie’s lips.   
They get back into the car and head home, Serena and Jason deciding to walk down the alley that leads to their back garden, something that Bernie had never noticed before. Serena vows to cut back the hedges at the weekend so it makes it more passable.  
“You can help me then afterwards.” Bernie throws the comment jokingly only for Serena to turn around and reply that it would be her pleasure.

The kids bundled off to bed after their teeth being scrubbed and faces washed, story time tonight was on Bernies bed as she knew that Charlotte would fall asleep straight after Cameron started to read.   
Cameron got into his own bed while Bernie carried her daughter to her own, both tucked in Bernie headed into the kitchen for her nightly glass of wine. She stood by the open back door, Serena soon joined her. Wine drunk, a wave goodnight as they both headed up to bed.


	5. Gardening.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They spend the day trying to tame Bernie's garden.

Saturday morning came around rather quickly. Its a hot September morning and Serena is already sweating and all she has done is pull out all of her gardening equipment from the shed. “Morning” Bernie shouts over the fence waving her cup of coffee. “Morning” Serena waves then proceeds to fan herself after wiping the sweat that is dripping down her cleavage, all of which Bernie follows with her eyes.  
“I will have this then we can make a start of you still want to?” Bernie asks hoping the offer is still there, she has never been much good at gardening and Serena’s front of the house looks beautiful. “Yes of course, we shall be around shortly.” Bernie smiled back and went to feed the children their breakfasts as they had just bounded downstairs. Bernie was well aware that you don’t start talking to her children until they have been fed and watered.

“Where shall we start mummy?” Charlotte asked tucking her jogging bottoms under her socks. “I have no idea, I am hoping that Ms Campbell will know.” With that the front door been rings and a eager Jason and Serena are standing waiting to be let around the back. Bernie hasn’t yet figured out which key unlocks the side gate, she plans to do that at some point today.   
Serena encourages Jason to take off his wellies but Bernie stops them, “it’s ok, I am sure there will be plenty more stuff that will need to be cleaned up afterwards, don’t worry about a bit of mud.” Jason makes his way through to find Cameron in the kitchen with a pair of gloves on, he hands his spare pair over, to Jason’s delight it is Doctor Who ones. “I like Doctor Who too!” Jason says as he is putting them on. “Mum says we will need these to protect our hands, she thinks there are nettles and thorny things in there.” Jason nods and stands by the back door waiting Charlotte standing with them.

Bernie and Serena look through the kitchen window to see where is best to start and with what equipment.  
“I think a strimmer first” Serena explains, Bernie nods not having the first clue. “Then we can see what is lurking underneath the long grass. Do a square at a time.” Bernie again nods, Serena sends the boys off to measure the width and place the sheers to mark half way, “I think they will get a few lessons out of this, as well as teaching you a thing or two.” Serena says jokingly. “Ah, I am sure you can teach me all of your tricks Ms Campbell, me being your favourite pupil after all.” Once again Serena is blushing and nods with a smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

Serena helps Charlotte unfold the large plastic sheet and pull the garden waste bin closer holding one edge down, they boys have found a brick each which is used to hold the 2 other corners and Charlotte gets a bottle of pop to hold down the fourth corner. “Great thinking Charlotte.” Serena praised, “I can see you will be very useful, being able to think out of the box.” Jason and Charlotte look at her confused, looking around for a box until Bernie explains to them, its a turn of phrase.

Bernie is shown how to use the strimmer, followed being by Jason on the rake, Charlotte and Cameron with the brush and shovel. Serena making sure that everyone is working safely. More like watching the muscles in Bernie’s back and arms work as she waves the strimmer from side to side.   
“Oh heck” is what brings Serena out from her day dream. “The line has broken.” Bernie worried that she had broken it just after starting to use it. Serena showed her how to get the new wire out so she can start again. “Thank you.” Bernie mumbled feeling silly she didn’t know how to use it. Serena smiled and let her get back to strimming the next bit. This time Serena, Charlotte and the boys put the grass that was on the plastic in the recycling bin, using the rake to compact it down only to repeat it again and again.  
“Any one want a drink and a snack?” Bernie asks wiping sweat from her forehead using her forearm. “I am sure we could all do with one, kids wash your hands first, upstairs please while I get them sorted.” Cameron and the children head upstairs to wash their hands as Bernie and Serena use the sink in the kitchen, both deciding to wash their hands together. Arms brushing as they rinse the suds off.   
“Juice?” Bernie turns her head to ask Serena, their faces so close together, Serena can feel Bernies breath on her cheek. Their eyes meet and linger, Serena nods and Bernie moves to dry her hands, offering the other half of the towel to Serena.

The children once again bounce down the stairs like a heard of elephants and sit at the table waiting for their drinks and snacks. Serena cuts up some fruit as Bernie pours them all a drink. The children stay in the kitchen and the adults head into the front room, sitting on the two seater sofa, legs touching as they bring one leg each underneath them so the can face each other more.   
“Whats next?” Bernie asks, knowing that they have over half of the grass left still to cut, but doesn’t know if Serena intends to look closer at the bit they have already done.  
“We shall finish the grass, may have to cut it a little lower before we use the mower. Then we trim the hedges. Hopefully we can get the grass cut before lunch.” Bernie nodded and finished off the last of her bowl of fruit and juice, got up of the sofa, held her hand out for Serena to hand over her glass and bowl instead she places her hand in Bernie’s to help her up. Both now standing close, Bernie turns and walks into the kitchen still holding onto Serena’s hand only letting go when they have to put their wellies back on.

Bernie finishes trimming the grass with the kids behind her raking it up to put to in a pile then to put it in the bin. They find that there is very little else apart from grass, which means that Serena starts to mow the lawn until it is a perfect length for the children to play on. By this time it is lunchtime, Bernie bundles them all into the car and takes them to McDonalds.   
Jason is in his element to some extent, he is with people he is comfortable with and is learning new things at the same time. He does get very stressed though when a rude man tries to push in front of his aunty when they were about to order, the man gets verbally naughty with Jason until Bernie stands between them and tells him that Jason is right and to wait his turn. He didn’t argue with Bernie who turned to make sure that Jason was ok and thanked him for being brave, but suggested that next time just let the person go ahead and order what they want. Jason looked to his aunty who nodded in agreement with Bernie, he huffed and took a seat with Cameron and Charlotte while they placed and waited for the food.  
Bernie promised them all an ice-cream if they ate their happy meals, which of course they did, she allowed the children to request and pay for their own ice-cream, but Jason and Cameron decided they will order together, Charlotte insisting she is big enough to do it herself, of course she was and she did. 

Once they were collected and ate they headed back to Bernies once again, this time to start on the hedges, they was no room left in her recycling bin so Serena brought hers around as they would need it anyway for the alley, this they did first. Bernie and Serena cutting the hedges with the seceturs, Bernie the long handled ones for the high branches and Serena the hand seceturs for the lower branches. The children again collecting the fallen ones, if one hit Serena on the head she would playfully pick it up and hit Bernie on the bottom with, which of course the children copied if it happened to catch them too.   
The afternoon soon went, doing the alley and the hedge in Bernie’s garden, by the time they had finished it was suitable for the children to play in, they got several toys out from their bedroom while the adults went in to prepare (order) tea and relax.

“Pizza ok?” Bernie asked, knowing it was rather unhealthy after a McDonalds but Serena nodded, they were both tired and needed something quick and easy, and a take away was the easiest option. Pizza’s arrived nearly an hour later, just as the children were getting tired and in need of a bath ready for bed. The pizzas were all eaten around the table, all shared. Jason tried one with pineapple on which he didn’t like but the pepperoni he did, much to the delight of his aunt. 

“Thank you so much for today. How about we have a barbecue tomorrow as the day is supposed to be warm and we can use the nice space while we still can?” Bernie asked. The children cheered and Jason looked pleadingly to his aunt who nodded, decision made. Jason told Bernie what he did and didn’t like and Serena said she would eat anything, it would just be nice to have someone cook for her. Bernie knew there was more towhead she said, but it could wait to find out more at a later date.

Serena and Jason said their goodbyes to the Wolfe’s, which meant Serena hugging then placing a kiss once again to Bernie’s lips, lingering just a second longer than before. “Night” whispered Bernie as she squeezed Serena’s hands, “Night” Serena said walking through the back door.  
The kids were showered and read to as always then went to bed, clearly exhausted by their day of gardening and playing with their new friend Jason. Bernie was too tired, it was the most she has worked since her accident, she felt a good achy, hoping Serena wasn’t feeling the after effects of all day gardening too much.  
As what has now become customary over the last week nearly, Bernie and Serena stood in the doorway of the back door, lifted their wine glasses, mouthed goodnight and went to bed.

The morning sun rays were shining through Serena’s window, she forgot to close the curtains last night, she spent the time drying in her towel looking at the work they had done, until she had spotted Bernie moving around in the bedroom, she too hadn’t closed the curtains. Serena couldn’t help but watch Bernie strip down and then come back with a towel wrapped around her.   
She found her fascinating and didn’t know why.

Serena took a quick shower, when she returned she looked at the clock and couldn’t believe it was just past 10am, Jason never has slept in that long before, she got up wrapped a silk dressing gown around her shoulders and went to the window. She could see Bernie dressed in shorts, vest t-shirt and has her hair tied back today, her long neck craning to make sure that all of the coals have been lit ready for their barbecue later.   
Then she noticed Jason sitting on the grass eating toast with Cameron, Charlotte she hadn’t seen yet, maybe she was inside.  
Serena rushed down stairs, put her slippers on and made her way to Bernie’s to retrieve Jason. 

“Jason” Serena growled. “Good morning aunty Serena, I thought you could do with a rest and I saw Cameron playing so I came to play with him.” Not realising that he should have spoken to his aunt first.  
“Morning Ms Campbell” a small voice came from the doorway, it was Charlotte who rushed over to give her a hug. “Would you like some coco pops?” She asked just as Bernie was bringing her bowl out. Suddenly seeing Serena she stopped and her eyes and mouth went wide. ‘Bloody hell’ went through Bernie’s brain seeing Serena in her night wear. 

Bernie managed to compose herself and wished her good morning and tilted her head as a signal to join her in the kitchen, Serena smiled and followed her. Bernie put the kettle on and placed toast in the toaster before managing to speak further, they shared glances once again at each other but today managing to have a gap between them.  
Toast was buttered, jam and marmalade placed on the table and coffee too they sat next to each other.   
“Thank you” Serena whispered, Bernie smiled as she took another bite sending a chunk of marmalade down the side of her mouth. Once again Serena used her thumb to wipe it up, but her fingers caressed Bernie’s cheek as she did it, naturally Bernie leant into it. Serena sucked the marmalade off her thumb and proceeded to eat her toast.

“I am so sorry about Jason.” She waved her hand in the direction of the garden. “He shouldn’t have imposed himself on you like that.” Bernie shook her head, “he didn’t, he just said hello and Cam asked him if he wanted some breakfast.” Serena nodded, not quite sure that was the whole truth, but she let it go, he was safe and with someone she trusted, which just lately were very few.

Jason and Serena returned to their house to get changed vowing to return as soon as they are dressed. Bernie went back out to the barbecue to make sure that it is all doing nicely, then she prepared the Jacket potatoes that were going to be done in the coals of the barbecue.   
The sausages are in the oven part cooking, burgers, steak and chicken have all been marinated and defrosted too. She was ready. “Cameron, could you let Ms Campbell know that I will be putting the jackets in soon and they can come over when they are ready.” Cam nodded and Charlotte said she was going with him. 

20 minutes later a rather flustered Serena and happy Jason came through the back gate. “Hello you” Bernie said hugging Serena then their usual kiss. “Hello” she mumbled back on her lips and kept her hand around Bernie’s waist. “Come on, lets get you a drink of wine and you can tell me all about it while they are playing and I put the meat on.” Serena smiled and followed Bernie to the barbecue where there was a cold glass of wine waiting for her.

“Come on whats got you in this state?” Bernie asks bumping her shoulder against Serena’s as she places the meat on the rack. Serena looks down in her glass. “You can tell me Serena.” Serena nods and tries to look her in the eye, figuring out what to say next. “I get lonely” she sighs, “at night when Jason has gone to bed, my thoughts return to Elinor……she was my daughter.” Bernie snapped her head up. “Was?” Serena nodded, she was killed in a car accident a few years ago now, it would have been her birthday this week……..God I hate this week.” A tear rolled down her cheek, Bernie pulled her into a tight embrace then sat her down on the kitchen chair she brought out. “I am so sorry Serena, I had no idea. What happened?” Serena told her about Edward, his drinking and his affairs.   
“He fell asleep on the sofa, drunk! He forgot to get her from school, I was working and she decided to walk home. But she never made it. She got hit by a car as she ran out in the road.” Bernie rubbed her thigh with one hand and her back with the other, Serena wiped the tears from her eyes, Cam caught this, came across and sat in her knee and give her a cuddle. “Thank you Cameron, just what I needed.” She said rubbing his head full of brown curly locks. “Love you Ms Campbell” he said as he walked away, then followed Charlotte who did exactly the same.   
“You can always talk to me about her Serena, anytime. We can meet here on warm autumn nights, I can get a fire pit for the cold ones and we can chat the night away.” Serena placed a kiss of silent thanks and caressed her cheek. Bernie had to move, she didn’t want to but the meat needed turning over.

Food was eaten, and they took the children to the local park, Serena showed them the alleyways to get there but made the children promise only to use them in the daylight or when an adult was with them, she would show them the footpath way on the way home.   
Serena pointed out where the best take aways were, the local pub that did a decent glass of shiraz and the local shop if they needed a few bits and bobs.

The sun was setting in the sky as they made there way back home, Charlotte holding the boys hands as they walked, Serena tucking her hand on Bernie’s elbow as they spoke about everything and nothing. Soon home they said their goodbyes and left each other to get themselves and the children ready for the new school week ahead.

Tonight as they have done they stood in the doorway, but this time Bernie made her way to the gate, she paused as she opened Serena’s who smiled as the damp curly locks bounced as she walked towards her.  
“Come here.” Bernie said, putting her wine glass down on the garden table and brought Serena in for a hug. “Shall I come with you to the cemetery? I think it would be good to go, we can go while the children are at the after school club and make it back in time to pick Jason up before collecting my two.” Serena sobbed in the crook of her neck, finally having someone to talk to that hasn’t looked at her in pity, just with kindness. “I would love that. Her birthday is on Friday, is that ok?” Bernie nodded, and held her tightly for just a few more seconds, places a kiss on her lips as she walks away.   
“Tomorrow eight am?” Serena nods and waves her goodbye with her wine glass as she closes her back door.


	6. Friday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason stays over at Bernie's and it is not without its complications.

Serena was very quiet on the ride into school. Before they exited the car at the school, Cameron undid his seatbelt and handed her a bunch of sunflowers. “For you Ms Campbell.” With a kiss on her cheek, swiftly followed by Charlotte who held out a card. Serena smiled with tears in her eyes, the love she had for Bernies children were growing everyday.   
“Thank you.” She managed to reply, trying to stop herself from crying. She leant forward and kissed Bernie, who went back for a second, “my pleasure, you can keep them for you or we can take them to Ellie later. Ms Effanga is going to have the children tonight, Jason is stopping at mine and we are going out.” Serena smiled and rubbed her thigh, knowing she couldn’t speak for the minute.   
The children exited the car leaving the two of them to sit and talk. “You didn’t have to do that you know, just coming with me to the cemetery would have been ok. Thank you though……it is just what I need.” Bernie smiled and nodded, they got out of the car. Hansen was waiting for Serena in her classroom, Bernie made her way to leave but Serena stopped her, she knew Hansen would do this, he has done on Ellie’s birthday and on the anniversary of day she died. “She knows Henrik, she is going with me after school to the cemetery.” Mr Hansen smiled and nodded, “very well, you know where my door is, even if you just need a little break from it all, I am sure that Ms Wolfe would cope for that short amount of time and I am willing to take over if needed.” “Thank you Henrik, I will keep it in mind.” With that he left them to it.

The bell goes and Serena brings the children in while Bernie sets up the first task of the day. Science day today then they are off to the nurture room. Bernie thinks it maybe a bad idea to do a life cycle today, being Ellie’s birthday and all of that, but Serena said she would be fine. And she was, they used the hungry caterpillar story to show changed if life and it was a success.   
Bernie and Serena spent their lunch in the classroom again on the sofa in the reading corner, someone popping in every now and again to send their love. Mr Copeland however stayed, he liked Serena and Bernie, there was no messing around or misunderstandings with Serena, and Bernie was just Bernie, no heirs or graces but a good laugh. He loved to make her laugh, the honking sound can be heard all around school, there was no mistake it was her laughing.   
He could openly talk about his dates, currently with an Isaac who Bernie really didn’t like and told him so. She had been on the receiving end of a man like that. They never judged him for being gay, none of them did really, he just felt more comfortable speaking to them about it.

The afternoon bell goes so Bernie and Serena collect the children and take them to the nurturing room. “This is a room for those who need time to think, ask an adult anything or just somewhere you need to be alone. A quiet space, no games or running around. You can draw, colour, write and read in here.” Bernie says as Serena sits herself on the floor.   
“Today would have been my daughters birthday.” Bernie knew where this was going so sat next to her. “She was just your age when she died, I will use this room to come and think about her, maybe write her a letter or make a memory box that I can fill with little things.” Serena wiped a tear from her eye so Bernie carried on.   
“This is a safe place for you if you are being bullied too, you can tell someone in here, not just an adult another friend if you like. But its a place where you can be you.”   
They allowed the children to explore and Bernie sat with her arm around Serena who now has her head on Bernie’s shoulder, reflecting. “She would have loved you, you know.” Serena told Bernie, “she would have loved to play with Charlotte and teach her how to do her hair and dance.” Bernie didn’t need to reply, she just held her. 

When the bell for the final break went they all headed off, the children to the playground and Bernie and Serena to the staffroom. Bernie made the coffee’s and held out the chocolate biscuits that Jac had given her, something she rarely does is share her chocolate biscuits.   
They all sat chatting, Serena checking with Mo that it was ok for her to look after the children tonight. “Oh gosh yes, I will have to get used to doing a bedtime routine soon anyway.” Everyone fell silent and looked at her, she hadn’t realised she just announced her pregnancy to everyone. She hadn’t even told Henrik yet.  
Congratulations were given all around, she declared she was 10 weeks and got to go for her first scan in 2 weeks time, her partner ‘Derwood’ she calls him was a gynaecologist and arranged it all.

The bell went once again and they all made their way back to the classroom, Bernie’s turn to read today as Serena wanted to catch up on some marking. She was lost in the voice of Bernie reading the chapters from ‘The Twits’ giggling as she tried to do the different voices but getting them mixed up. The children were in a fit of giggles.   
The last ten minutes were handing out this weeks homework, again to be handed in next Friday, all written in their diaries they were allowed home or to the club of their choice. Cameron said goodbye to them both before headed out to change into his PE kit. He was really excited to start football training.

Bernie held out her hand for Serena to take and walked other car, flowers in hand. The short ride to the cemetery was silent, Bernie glancing each time she could, making sure that Serena was baring up under the circumstances. “He couldn’t even make it today.” Serena huffed as she cleared the dead flowers from the pot, Bernie got out a bottle of water out of the car and filled the pot while Serena placed the dead flowers in the bin.   
Bernie sat on the grass and watched how Serena displayed the flowers once she finished she sat herself between Bernie’s legs who instantly wrapped her arms around her. Thats how they sat for about 10 minutes, when Serena turns on her knees and hugs Bernie and cries. Bernie holds on to her tightly but slightly rearranging her to sit with her legs over Bernie’s. A loud cough is heard from behind them, it is Edward. He is holding a garish pink and yellow balloon and flowers.   
“Serena, I think I need to leave you to it.” Serena looked up and saw Edward standing there awkwardly, “no we shall leave him to it, I have nothing more to say to him.” Serena shot up and walked away leaving Bernie to catch up to her. She does by the car, Serena is standing at the drivers side with her back to Edward, Bernie stands between her legs and hugs her again, “ready to go?” Bernie asks, Serena nods and is released to go to the passengers side. “Jason?” Bernie asks, “please if you still don’t mind?” Bernie shakes her head and makes her way to Jason’s school.

“Aunty Serena, Bernie.” He shouts as his teacher lets him leave the classroom, giving them a hug in return. “Can I watch Horrible Histories tonight with Cameron and Charlotte?” He asks excited that he is sleeping at his friends house, something he has never done before. “I am sure that can be arranged. We have found some of his books too if you want to read them in bed later too.” Serena smiled a proper smile for the first time today. The friendship she and Jason has with Bernie and her children is one she has never had before and doesn’t want it to change ever.

They arrived back at Bernie’s, Serena said she would bring Jason and herself around as soon as they could. “Table is booked for 7pm. It will take about 20 minutes to get there, Mo is coming at 6pm to get the children settled before we go.” Serena smiled and nodded, “I will be ready I promise.”   
Serena and Jason arrived just as Mo was coming through the front door, Cam ushered then in, Bernie took in the sight of Serena and flushed. Serena was waring smart black trousers that hugged her backside nicely, a black vest top and bright pink open shirt, makeup done perfectly and hair all in place, she looked stunning. “Wow” Bernie finally spoke, “I wish I scrubbed up as good as you do.” Serena blushed. “You look great, never seen you with so many clothes on.” With a cheeky wink that made Bernie blush in return.  
“God, don’t you look like a lovely couple” Mo replied to both of them, both Serena and Bernie looked at her in amazement “couple?” Bernie coughed. “Yeah you would be the sexiest couple out there tonight.” Serena stuttered “we are just friends!” Mo nods in embarrassment and bundles the children in to the kitchen to make snacks before they sit and watch a film. 

Bernie and Serena made their way out to the taxi that peeped his horn impatiently. Serena placing her hand in the crook of Bernies arm as they walked down the path, through the gate, only letting go to get into the rear of the car. “I thought you were driving?” Serena said placing her seatbelt on, “no, it has an extensive wine list that I was sure you would want to try out……shiraz is on there too, I asked when I made the reservation.” Serena smiled and nodded as she sat back. Bernie gave the address to the driver and paid at the other end, shooing away Serena’s attempt to pay.  
The Greek restaurant was amazing, a 2AA rosette restaurant and was ridiculously expensive. Serena was about to complain when Bernie stopped her. “My treat for your help last weekend, the new job, your friendship and to the new friends I have made because of you.” With that the waiter poured them a glass out of the bottle and left them to chink their glasses together. 

“Do you think you would ever get married again?” Serena asked midway through the main course. Bernie shook her head, “I don’t think so……finding out that you are gay and having 2 children is not everyones cup of tea.” ‘Bernie is gay!’ Went through Serena’s head, she wondered if that is why she felt so comfortable in her presence. “Oh, I didn’t know.” Serena blurted out, of course she didn’t know….Bernie had never mentioned it before. “Well its not something you just put out there, people tend to not speak to me after they find out.” Serena sat there open mouthed, “well they are bigots then, I am glad you told me though.” Bernie smiled, smiling at the fact that she felt comfortable telling someone that she was gay and they didn’t give a care in the world.  
“Anyway, on the full disclosure bit, I am Bi! Before I was married to Edward I had a fling with my best friend Sian…..oh, just wait until you meet her. Fair enough it was only the one and I have been with men since…..don’t get me started on Robbie the Bobby, you will meet him in a few weeks.” Bernie sat there amazed, she never thought that Serena would like women too! Bernie thought that her now best friend was amazing, beautiful, intelligent and has the body to die for. But all she could say was “Robbie the Bobby?”  
Serena tried not to frown at her response, she wanted to see if Bernie had any sort of feeling that she has for her.

“Yes well, lets just say that he doesn’t like Jason. He was supposed to have moved in but he couldn’t cope with Jason and his strict regime.” Serena told Bernie about how he called him names, hence why Jason got upset the other day about being called a geek. “Its not the worst that he has heard and it won’t be the last neither, but he shouldn’t ever hear it from a grown adult or a police officer for that matter.” Serena could see the rage in Bernie’s eyes so she covered her hands with Bernie’s. “Hey its all ok now. I kicked him to the curb, but he does try it on every time he see’s me or is drunk and texts me. Which is usually every weekend.” Bernie is seething. “If he carries on I will sort him out for you, police officer or not!” Serena smiles, there it is jealousy! A reaction that shows that there is feelings there. “If he carries on I will tell you.” She smiles. Thats where that conversation ends.

They talk about school, Ellie and the other children, the growing friendship between Cam and Jason. Serena’s hopes that Jason could go into mainstream school one day. “Do you think that Mr Hansen would allow him into our school?” Serena shook her head, he would need one to one care and that is something that we don’t have at the moment. “I would do it!” Bernie offered straight away. Serena smiled, “we shall see, maybe speak to him after half term?” Bernie nodded.

Pudding is ordered, Serena had another glass of wine insisting that another bottle wont be necessary as she has plenty at home if Bernie wished to join her afterwards. She nodded.

Bernie and Serena arrive back, closing to leave the main lights off, so the children don’t know they are back. She closes the curtains and lights a few of the large candles that are dotted around, a fresh bottle uncorked they sit on the large sofa. Its the first time Bernie has been in Serena’s apart from to collect bits and bobs that she needs for the school day.  
They sit at the opposite ends of the large sofa and slowly migrate to the centre, in the end Serena has her head on Bernie’s lap, Bernie fingering through her hair as she tells her tales about Ellie as a baby, her birthdays and her favourite things to do. Bernie listens, Serena needs to talk about her and Bernie wants to know all of these little things.

Bernie has to move, she hears her phone going and it is Mo, Jason is getting a little agitated, she is worried that he may completely break down. Bernie tells her that they are coming, “bring a bag with you, stay the night at mine….it means you may have to share the bed with me though, but it is king size so there is plenty of room. That way Jason still gets to sleep over but has the comfort of knowing you are there too.” Serena could see no fault in what Bernie suggested so she went to collect a few things and they headed back to Bernie’s house.  
“Hey Jason” Bernie said as he was rocking, not in full panic just yet. “Your aunty is going to stay here too, so you can still sleep over if you want, she will be right next door.” Jason looked at her, smiles and gives her a hug. Serena is amazed just at the way she knows how to settle Jason, she struggles at it sometimes.

Bernie shows Serena into her bedroom, where the bathroom is and towels etc. “I will let you get changed.” Bernie says but Serena tells her she doesn’t mind her staying, “I have nothing to hide.”  
Bernie didn’t mean to watch Serena get undressed, but she does through the mirror on the dressing table. Unbeknown to Bernie, Serena can see her watching, she does everything a little slower than normal, folding her clothes before putting her nightdress on.   
Bernie can see the scars on Serena’s back and inhales deeply. “A parting gift from my mum, she didn’t know who I was so she freaked out and hit me. It was the Alzheimer’s, it really wasn’t her fault.” Bernie nodded not really understanding, that was only something that someone has been through could understand and hadn’t.

Serena sat in bed, facing Bernie as she started to undress. Serena seeing Bernie’s scars on her chest for the first time, she gasps, gets onto her knees and crawls over to Bernie. She traces her fingers over the main scar down Bernie’s bare chest. “IED, lucky to be alive, don’t know how I am still here and walking.” Bernie turned around to show the smaller scars on her back “most of these are shrapnel but this one, is from my husband. This is a burn mark, the tip of what looks like an iron.” Serena bends and kisses it “I am so sorry Bernie.” Bernie places her top on and her shorts then gets into bed next to Serena.  
They face each other silently and fall asleep.

The next morning Serena is wrapped up in the arms of Bernie, she loves the warmth radiating of her, “morning” a sleepy voice comes from Bernie, Serena looks up “morning to you too.” She shuffles away missing the heat from Bernie.  
“Shall I check on Jason?” Bernie nods and watches her walk out of her room.  
‘I want her to stay’ is what goes through Bernies mind, too scared to make the next move, sure that Serena would want her too. But its something she has never done before, made the first move.

Breakfast eaten, Serena and Jason leave Bernie’s house to get ‘work done’ at Serena’s. The children do their homework, play in the park and play with Jason a few times over the weekend. Serena and Bernie only seeing each other at the end of the night with their usual stand in the doorway and wave goodnight with their wine glass, wishing they could do something more than that.


	7. The week before half term - Part 1.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conversation with Ric ensues.

Things had been going well for the ladies, Jason spent one night at Bernie’s nearly every week. His routine changes didn’t seem to bother him so much as long as it involved Bernie and her children in some way. On the nights that Jason stayed over Serena had to, too.   
He was ok sleeping there knowing that Serena was close by.

Serena managed to finally get her car fixed, but as they lived so close together and it has worked so perfectly for the term, Bernie and Serena decided to car share, as Bernie’s was the bigger car they would use hers. It also meant that they could pick Jason up from school every Friday while waiting for Cam and Charlotte to finish their after school activities.

Jason had been having a few problems at his school though, his high functioning Aspergers made it difficult for them to keep up with the level of information he needed to keep him learning or entertained. Bernie and Serena spoke in private about all of the things that would make it easier for Jason to transition into main stream school, when they had thought of everything they decided to speak to Mr Hansen. The Monday before half term.

“Come in.” Henrik shouts from behind his desk, it is rather early in the morning but as always he is the first member of staff in the school. “Is this a convenient time?” Serena asks, Henrik nods and uses his hand as a gesture for them to sit down.   
“I would like to ask if we can accommodate my nephew Jason, you know he has high functioning Aspergers, he has had a few rough weeks at his school as they cannot cope with his learning needs. He also has been bullied a little too, nothing major just a few name callings etc. I think he would be better in a main stream school and would like him here so we,” Serena places her hand on Bernie’s thigh “can keep an eye on him. Bernie has agreed to be his teaching assistant, as she has completed all of her SENCO training and knows already how to interact with him.” Finally coming up for air she looks at him pleadingly.   
“Very well, I shall look into it. But, I don’t think it would be a good idea for Ms Wolfe to be his TA in school.” Serena was just about to protest when Henrik holds his hand up, he wants to explain further. “Ms Wolfe is needed in your room, Ric’s class has no TA’s in there at all and I think to would still be best that Ms Wolfe would remain just a friend to Jason.” Bernie nodded, she could see he was making sense, she squeezed Serena’s hand and whispered in her ear, “he has a point, that way he can still stay and play at mine and you get a break. If I have to be firm with him then he will stop all of that.” Serena smiled and knew her friends were right.   
“I see your point Henrik, lets start the ball rolling then.”

With that the ladies left his office in search for coffee. Bernie pulled out a box that was still rather warm, as she opened it Serena’s eyes lit up. “One for you.” Bernie said letting Serena take the first pic of the chocolate croissants. “Just what I needed thank you.” They both sat together in the staffroom talking about the type of person they would want with Jason and the plans for the school week. They had a trip planned, a visit to the local woods which had a animal sanctuary in it. Jason’s school finishes on the Wednesday so Serena was bringing him into school Thursday of the trip and Friday.

Tuesday was very hectic as Jason was having a bad morning, he didn’t want to go to school as he was bored. Serena begged and pleaded with him to get ready but he flatly refused, he was still sitting in his pj’s when Bernie turned up at 8am. The knock at the door abruptly stopped them from shouting once again at one another, Serena was nearly in tears with frustration. The door flew open, she was about to give a mouthful of abuse at the person who is insistently knocking until she realises it is Bernie. That is when Serena does lose all capacity to stay tear free, collapsing into Bernie who is shocked by Serena’s reaction. Bernie walks Serena backwards so she can close the door, then further until she is in the kitchen, Serena being placed on the kitchen chair. Bernie kneels in front of her and gently strokes her back until she stops crying.  
“Whats gone on?” Bernie asks, Serena explains what has gone on and Bernie tells her to take her car and the children to school and she will deal with Jason, to keep her phone on her and she will text when she can. Serena wipes the tears from her eyes, swaps keys with Bernie and leaves to take the children and herself to school.

When Serena left Bernie switched off the tv and refused to give Jason the remote until he could tell her why he wasn’t going to school. She took all of the abuse that Jason slung at her, but she just sat there calmly not speaking until he ran out of things to say, not one word of it was an explanation to why he wasn’t going to school.  
“Jason, I am your friend yes?” She carefully asked as he was stomping up and down in a line, he paused for a second and nodded. “I need to hear your words Jason.” She insisted on verbal communication, she knows that he needs to tell her what is going on. “Yes, you are my friend and so is Cameron and Charlotte.” He replied gruffly.   
“Thank you Jason, can you come and get a drink of juice with me please, I am sure we can have a biscuit too.” Jason followed her into the kitchen.  
“Come sit down and we can talk calmly while we have our drink and snack.” Jason sat next to her, his fingers tapping on the table, he is showing signs that he may go into a full breakdown of she is not careful.  
“What has happened this week to make you not want to go to school?” That tapping gets louder and quicker so Bernie tries again.  
“Has your aunty told you about you coming to our school?” His hand flattens and he nods, eventually giving her a yes. “We are going to the animal sanctuary and having a team building day on Friday.”   
“That’s right Jason, but on Friday we have arranged for you to spend the day with Mr Griffin to see if you like it in his class.” Jason starts a slow soft tap again.   
“I think you will like Mr Griffin Jason, did you know he likes the worlds strongest man competition and is a history teacher as well as PE, some of the team building is a bit like doing world strongest man.” Jason looks at her and smiles. “But she continues, I need you to go to school for the next 2 days, so we can finish sorting everything out, make sure everyone is ready for the trip and the team building games. You see…. if you come into school with us today we will have no chance to set it all up.” Jason runs out of the kitchen and shouts that he is going to get ready doubly quick for school.  
Bernie sends Serena a text, ‘be there in an hour’.

Jason is dropped of at school, Bernie explains to the headmaster Mr Jones about his breakdown and his boredom, he apologises and says he will try to do more for him, Bernie leaves unsatisfied, they have heard it all before.  
She arrives at school just before the first break so she heads to the staffroom to make a drink and takes it back to the classroom just as the break bell goes. “Thank you so much for this morning Bernie, I really don’t know what I will do without you!” Serena hug and places a lingering kiss only to be broken by Ric entering the classroom wanting to know any information she can give regarding Friday. He smirks as the ladies untangle themselves in a fluster, “well Ms Campbell?” Serena ignores the comment and tells him about Jason’s needs. All agreed that if Jason feels comfortable that on the school trip in the afternoon Jason can go with him. With that he leaves just in time for the bell to signal break time is over.

At the end of the school day, Bernie and Serena agree to go and collect Jason from school to see how his day has got on, he usually has a bad day all round when he has a bad morning, but today was different. He was happy and talkative, he had been looking up about the animal sanctuary and its history. Serena and Bernie smile as he tells Cam and Charlotte all about it. Bernie drops Serena back off at school so she can bring her own car back with her and she takes Jason back to her house.

Serena is stopped by Ric as she was just about to get in her car, “You and Ms Wolfe?” He asks, Serena blushes. “We are just friends Ric, we are best friends.” Trying to stop herself from getting any redder than she already is. “You have feelings for her don’t you, you don’t go around kissing all of your friends in the lips.” It wasn’t a question but a statement. She nodded, “she doesn’t know how I feel Ric, she is my best friend and I don’t want to lose her.” Ric steps forward, rubs her shoulders and tops of her arms. “You should, tell her I mean, she looks at you as if you are the only person on the planet she would ever want to be with.” Serena shakes her head, “no Ric, you know me and disastrous relationships, you have seen it all! I will not lose her because I can’t keep my feelings in check.” Ric nods, he know Serena has had a rough time, Angus, Edward and Robbie - well he was just awful to Jason. Ric nearly hit him when he found out what had gone on.

Serena heads back home with the words that Ric had said whirling in her brain. She collects Jason and returns to their home in rapid time.   
“What is wrong Aunty Serena, you are acting very strange since we dropped you off at school.” Serena didn’t answer she was lost in her own dream of being with Bernie. “Hello Aunty Serena…..” No answer, “we have ran out of wine!” He said, “WHAT?” Serena asked. Jason laughed, “I asked you a question but you were staring out of the window again. Why are you acting strangely? Have you fell out with Bernie because of me this morning?”   
“Oh gosh no Jason, its just that……that…….” She could articulate what she wanted to say.  
“Do you like kissing Bernie?” Jason asks out of the blue. Serena nearly has whiplash turning around to face him so quickly her eyes wide. “Erm, we don’t.” “You do aunty Serena, I have seen you kiss her as we leave, in the morning, its not how you used to kiss Robbie, but do you like kissing girls, kissing Bernie?” He is so perceptive, he must have noticed how close they have gotten.   
“Bernie likes to kiss girls Jason, does that bother you?” Jason shakes his head, “I like Bernie and Bernie likes me and you…..I think you should kiss Bernie like you kissed Robbie.” Serena turns back around and looks out of the kitchen window again to see a confused Bernie looking back at her, “I can’t do that Jason, she is my best friend.” Jason says something that she doest quite hear apart from being silly, Serena smiles and waves to Bernie and starts to prepare tea.  
Jason now in bed, Serena sits herself down on the sofa with her glass of wine, not standing in the doorway tonight to say goodnight as her usual routine would be, her thoughts are plagued too much of Bernie today.   
What did she really want? Did she actually want Bernie in that way or just as a friend? She hears a quiet knock at her back door, Serena gets up to find Bernie’s silhouette through the glass, her heart is beating so fast she can hear it in her head.

“Hey you” Serena says as she opens the door, “Hey” Bernie smiles back, they stand there awkwardly for a few minutes, neither can look each other in the eye. “I am sorry if I overstepped with Jason today.” Bernie finally breaking the awkward silence. “No, no, you were a great help, honestly I would have drove myself mad if you hadn’t of intervened,” Bernie looks at her puzzled, if it wasn’t Jason then what has made the change in her behaviour.  
Serena took a step forward, placed her glass on the side and kissed Bernie, a small peck, pulls away slightly, another small peck, looks at her for confirmation, slides her hands to Bernies face and pulls her in for a proper kiss. Bernie doesn’t pull back, she kisses her in return. Neither of them know how long they have been kissing, but when they break apart they say their goodnights and head back inside their own houses.


	8. The week before half term - Part 2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet Fletch.

Wednesday goes along as planned until Bernie and Serena are called into Mr Hansen’s office for a meeting, “Miss Shreve is taking over the class as it is story time there should be no issue.” Mr Hansen states as they head nervously into the office, neither one of them know whats it is about.   
“Ms Campbell, Ms Wolfe come in and take a seat.” They see a tall slim dark haired man sitting down, he raises himself and offers his hand to shake, they take it and look at Henrik confused. “Ms Campbell, Ms Wolfe, this is Mr Adrian Fletcher. He will be Jason’s support worker while in school.” They both turn to look at him, “I prefer Fletch, everyone calls me Fletch.” Cowering under the gaze of the two strong women.   
They all turn back to Henrik, “Mr Fletcher here has been a SENCO TA for 5 years, he specialises working with children with high functioning Aspergers. He will start here tomorrow, getting to know Jason as he is already with us for the few days and will start fully after half term.” Serena smile beams and lights up the room “really” she whispers, cannot believe that it will happen, he will finally be in main stream school and will start so soon.

“Nice to meet you Fletch, I am Bernie and my speechless friend here is Serena Jason’s aunt. Trust me she never usually this quiet.” That earns her a slap on the arm, they all laugh. “Thank you for starting so quickly Fletch, how would you like to join us for tea, see him in his own environment first?” He nods, Serena hands him her address and leaves with Bernie in tow.

That night Serena explains to Jason that she has a friend coming for tea to meet him. “I thought you liked Bernie?” He asked not quite understanding why this Fletch fella was coming for tea. “If you and Fletch get along, that means you can stay at my school in Mr Griffins class and not go back to the school that you are at now.” Jason thought about it for a minute. “Will I still see my friends, Bernie, Cameron and Charlotte?” Serena nodded, “you will see them more as they are all at the same school, you will get to play with them at playtime and lunchtime. But you will be in a different class to me and them, you will be with Mr Griffin.” Jason nodded in acceptance, “I like Mr Griffin, he likes me too.” That was it decision made. 

Fletch came for tea and got on well with Jason, explaining that he will set him up a timetable for the week that he starts his new school, understanding his need for structured routine and needing to know what will happen next. Jason tells him about his love for history and maths.  
Serena says goodnight to Fletch, bathes and puts Jason to bed and heads over to Bernie’s with an extra wine glass in her hand. They sit on the chairs that Bernie pulls out from the kitchen, enjoying the red sky that still is quite warm for the end of October. They share glances at each other, talking about how it went with Fletch, how she hopes that Jason will fit in, the awkward conversation to be had with Mr Jones, not that she really cares, she doesn’t like him anyway and Bernie agrees. Wine drunk Serena gets up to leave, Bernie pulls her in for a hug and once again they kiss. Hands don’t move, they just once again kiss and say their goodnights.

Thursday is manic, all of the children are excited to go to the sanctuary, a few have forgotten their lunch boxes so Bernie goes to plead with the Donna who does the school lunches to make some bags up, which she does and quickly hands them over to Bernie to hand out. The children meet up at the hall and Jason immediately goes to find Fletch, leaving his aunty to sort out her class. Ric says a quick hello and invites Jason and Fletch to join his class if they wish, that he would introduce them to some of his new classmates. Jason isn’t so sure, so he stays with Fletch following closely behind Ric’s year 6 class always noting where Bernie or Serena are. 

All children in the buses, counted and checked, sick buckets and water in each one they were off. Serena and Bernie were on the front row together with Jason and Fletch a few rows further back, the a little further than them, Ric and his class.   
Henrik did it this way to ensure that Jason felt safe at all times. It didn’t matter which class drove to the sanctuary together as long as they all stayed in their own classes. A few parents joined them too, ones that were used to taking the children swimming and out etc.  
It takes just over an hour to get there, Jason has already printed off a map and highlighted all of the animals he wishes to see, telling Fletch that he wont go anywhere near snakes. Fletch agrees with him, telling him that he doesn’t do spiders neither, both making a pact to go quickly pass them if they need to.  
Once they had arrived Bernie and Serena are the first to get off the bus, counting them as they go along. They put them into smaller groups and their group heads off in the direction of the horses and donkeys. While Fletch and Mr Griffins class heads to the butterfly house.

They all meet up again at lunch, Bernie and Serena having the full low down on what Jason and Fletch have seen. Jason loved the tortoises and crocodiles as they were most probably linked back to when dinosaurs were living.   
Cameron came to join him with one of his friends Josh and introduces him to Jason. They all start talking and Jason feels comfortable going over to sit with Cam and his friend. They only part when it is time to look at more animals. 

This time Serena and Bernie’s class are doing the safari, they share the mini bus with half of their class, Henrik and Ms Shreve looking after the other half in the bus following them. The children are all fascinated by the lions, giraffes. When Serena spots a baby elephant she has tears in her eyes, it is the one species she loves, Elephants. The baby elephant is splashing around in the mud bath, flinging the muddy water around, some of which splashed onto the bus making the children and Bernie laugh. Well the children laugh and Bernie honks, she covers her mouth with her hand trying to stop the loud honking noise emanating from her, but it only makes it worse and Serena is laughing at her laugh. They finally settle down to the disgust of the driver. “Bloody teachers are worse than the kids!” Serena and Bernie smiling at each other, they were just about to lean in for a kiss when Serena remembers where they are and pulls back wiping her neck and going red. Bernie’s eyes look down and she sits back in her seat properly.

The tour was soon over and the children were allowed to look in the gift shop, they were allowed to spend up to five pounds each if they wanted to. Jason found a book on the animals, Cam brought a load of souvenir pencils and rubbers, a few of the children liked the jelly bouncy balls - Serena warned them they could only buy them if they kept them in their bags until they got back to school or they will be confiscated, all agreed and they did keep their promise knowing that Ms Campbell would indeed not let them have it back until the new term.  
They were soon back on the bus which was very quiet, some children falling asleep, Jason and Fletch talking about what they enjoyed on the trip.  
Serena just sat their, she entwined her fingers with Bernie’s and placed her head on Bernie’s shoulder. Bernie squeezed their fingers together, placed a kiss to the crown of Serena’s head and then rested her head on there. Not moving until they got back to school, once again doing a final head count, allowing those children that have their parents waiting to go home and those that don’t make their way into the classroom.

Friday they were all exhausted from their full day at the sanctuary. Bernie and Serena had no energy left, it was the last day fo the term and all they wanted to do was to curl up on the sofa and enjoy a day of reading. But no, Henrik and the school full of children had other ideas.   
Jason went to play with Cam and his friends while they waited for the school day to start. Charlotte as always went to her friends skipping around the yard, playing hopscotch with a stone they had found by the gate. 

The bell sounded and the children all went into the school hall, ready for their day of team building. Each class was going to be broken up so there were equal amount of children from each class in each team. Ric and Fletch stayed with Jason and had Cameron in his team.   
Bernie was delighted to work with Mo, her baby bump now starting to show, and she had Charlotte in her team too.   
Serena was not so happy about being split up from Bernie but was a little happy being paired with Dom.   
Jac had a couple of TA’s that were mums and was very disgruntled.   
Mr Digby and Ms Shreve were paired together, Serena had a feeling that they had a blossoming romantic relationship growing. 

Serena and Dom had a challenge to do with building a tower out of Jenga garden blocks. They had to build this tower using all of the blocks as tall as it can go, the team with the tallest tower has 10 points.   
Bernie and Mo were doing a fitness challenge, see who can do the most sit ups, burpees, press ups, run 100 meters the quickest, the fastest or who does the most has the 10 points.   
Jac had a egg experiment, they had to make 10 boxes to house the eggs in, then drop them onto the floor, whoever egg doesn’t crack or break gets 10 points for their team.   
Dr Digby and Ms Shreve’s team had a treasure hunt, they had to scour the school to find the objects, the team that guessed the word that they needed in the end the quickest got to share the treat - a tub of jelly sweets spelling Haribo jelly heart.   
Finally Ric’s and Fletches team had to see who can lift the most objects without them falling to the floor, a bit like human buckaroo. Jason loved this as it was about logic and fun. Cameron was the human buckeroo and the children found lots of different items to place on him.   
Each team had 25 minutes to complete the task, a 10 minute break then swap over to do the different activities until lunchtime.

Lunchtime came, not as quickly as Serena wanted. Bernie food her lying in the story corner with her head on the pillows. “Hello you” Bernie says hovering over Serena, “hello” she replies with a yawn. Serena pats the floor asking for Bernie to join her, Bernie hands her a lucozade orange before she sits down, not their usual drink but they both need the sugar and caffeine. “Thank you.” She breathes as the cold fizzy drink hits the back of her throat, “I am going to need the full pack of these to get me through today.” Bernie giggles and lays her head on the pillow facing Serena.   
No words were needed, just peace and quiet time with their best friend. Serena starts to doze when the bell goes and makes her jump and yawning at the same time. Bernie jumps up and offers her hand which Serena takes only for her to stumble into the arms of Bernie who has fell back to sit on the table. Bernie looks up at her and smiles, Serena looks down, and places a chaste kiss onto her lips only stopping at the sounds of children coming closer.  
Bernie keeps hold of Serena’s hand until she can no longer reach as she leaves the room to find Mo and her group of children, giving a smile and a nod to Dom as they walk passed each other.

The afternoon goes as well as the morning all meeting up in the hall after all of them had completed the activities, to see which team have won the various prizes.   
It comes as a draw, between Serena and Dom’s team, and Mo and Bernie’s team. “Well I think that we need to have an arm wrestle for it to see who wins don’t you think children?” All of the children cheer, “whoever shouts the loudest for their teacher does the arm wrestle.” Serena is scowling at Henrik, he smiles and stands to her side. “Those that want Ms Campbell to do it for your team clap and shout now.” A roar so loud it nearly took the school roof off. He did the same for Dom and Mo but the noise wasn’t as loud as it was for Serena and Bernie. The whole school school screamed when it came to hearing Bernie’s name.

“Ms Wolfe, Ms Campbell take your places.” The children shouted for the person they wanted to win, Bernie had noticed that both of her children were shouting for Serena and Jason and Fletch were shouting for her.  
“Ready?” Henrik asks, they both nod and they start. The noises get deafening from the children, but Bernie is lost in the beauty of the woman she is arm wrestling with, Serena gives a small naughty grunt and that was it, Bernie loses. Bernie’s team boo and Serena’s team jump with joy as the sweets are handed around, allowing them to eat it now if they so wished. They all head back to their classrooms where they are dismissed until the start of the new term.

Serena was smug all of the way home and Bernie couldn’t give a monkeys backside that she lost. She had the tingling sensation still in her hand from where they gripped each other. “Did you let me win?” Serena asked as they got out of the car and the children made there way into Bernie’s house. Bernie looked at her startled, “I had no intention of letting you win, you won fair and square.” Serena beamed and followed the children in. 

They all decided on a Chinese take away as Bernie and Serena were now completely exhausted, the children were tired too. Once all of the food was eaten the children headed off upstairs to play, suddenly noticing it had gone extremely quiet Bernie and Serena headed upstairs to see what was happening. They found the three of them under a makeshift tent all fast asleep on Cam’s bedroom floor, Charlotte has tucked herself in Jason’s side. Bernie and Serena leave them and head back down stairs.  
They headed back into the kitchen and poured themselves their usual glass of wine, Bernie now gone over to the right side according to Serena as she is now drinking the shiraz.

“What are your plans over the half term?” Bernie asks Serena, “not a lot, I usually just decorate and chill out, get ready for the winter months.” Bernie nods, “I am thinking of going to London for a few days sightseeing, would you like to come with us? I haven’t booked anything yet so we can look together.” Serena nodded and got out her phone to see a text from Robbie. She quickly deleted it, Bernie looked at her trying to gauge what she was thinking. “Is he bothering you Serena?” She shook her head, "he gets like this usually over the weekend. I will shut my phone down, maybe look on your iPad?” Bernie nodded, went over to the tv stand and grabbed the iPad and proceeded to look for hotels.   
They decided to go via train to Heathrow and stay in a hotel there, that way they are out of the hustle and bustle of London at night but still close enough to travel in every day, not only that there is a cinema and a bowling alley too along with plenty of places to eat.  
Hotel and train tickets booked, they just needed to pack ready to leave on Monday.


	9. Half Term in London.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ladies get a little closer.

All of the children woke up early as they were very excited to go on their trip to London. Bernie and Serena were currently sitting with a large coffee in their hands trying desperately to wake up, regretting their late night wine drinking session.   
Serena staggering her way back to her house at 2am in the morning.

Bags were packed and ready by Bernie’s front door, they were all waiting for the taxi to pick them up, the 10:30 train straight to Euston was thankfully so far on time, hoping to be in London for 11:30. The children were waiting eagerly by the gate waiting for the taxi to arrive while the ladies were making sure that they had everything, Serena was leaving her house and car keys in Bernie’s and Bernie would just be taking her house keys.  
The taxi arrives and the door is closed behind them, it is a good job that Bernie booked a mini bus as the extra luggage wouldn’t have fitted in a ‘normal’ car.

The train tickets were got from the ticket machine, the children all needing to have theirs to get through the stalls.   
Charlotte nearly getting stuck as she didn’t walk through her quick enough, Bernie and Serena using the wider ones as they had luggage with them. They all went to the platform, Jason eagerly looking out of their train to arrive. 

Once aboard they find their seats and take out their books and colouring things to keep them entertained for the next hour, drinks and snacks too. Bernie and Serena discussing where to go first on their trip, deciding on the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace once they have dropped their luggage off at the hotel.   
Tomorrow they decided a day of shopping at Hamley’s and Harrod’s, maybe a few others if they can get the children out of the toy shop especially as they boys love Doctor Who, and Hamley’s currently have a full floor dedicated to it.  
Jason wanted to do the Natural History Museum at some point, Charlotte wanted to go to the theatre to see The Lion King or Matilda. Cameron wanted to go to the Science Museum and the Sea Life Centre.  
Bernie and Serena managed to get tickets for them all to see The Lion King but it was on Thursday, matinee performance so they could go out for tea afterwards. They thought that the Museums could be done on Wednesday and then the Sea life Centre before they return home Friday. There was no way that this trip was going to be chilled out, but neither of them minded and they would have the weekend to recover.

The train arrived at Euston and they managed to hop on the train to Heathrow easily enough which was only about 20 minutes away. They dropped off their cases and left to go to the Tower of London, eating their picnic as soon as they arrived.   
Jason and Cameron looked the brochure to see where they would like to go and to no surprise of the Ladies it was all of it, but first they wanted to look around the halls and find St. Georges Dragon that is made out of scrap metal.   
Charlotte enjoyed it but found it boring, she wanted to go and look at the Queen’s Jewels and dresses, so they headed there next.   
Charlotte’s face when she saw the dresses was a picture, Serena told her the story behind a few of them, Bernie taking care of the boys who were fascinated by the Orb and Staff, thinking they could be used as weapons.  
They all had a photo with the Beefeaters and one was holding a Raven, Jason was enraptured in the tale that if the Ravens leave the tower the monarchy will fall and was very glad to hear that some are kept in the tower just incase.

They stopped off at a little bakery for drinks and cakes before heading off to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Cameron tried his best to get the guard to laugh and was disgruntled that his face never changed. Charlotte enjoyed climbing on the fountain splashing water at the boys. They saw a series of cars exit the grounds and Serena was sure that it was the Queen that had left, she was correct as Bernie saw the lowering of the flag to say that the Queen was no longer there.  
After a full on day they headed back to the hotel, ate at the restaurant there and went to their family size room.  
Bernie offering to sleep with Charlotte if Serena wanted a bed to herself, Charlotte promptly moaning that she wanted a bed to herself and that they could share like they did when Jason stayed over. Bernie and Serena blushed as they caved in, letting Charlotte have her own bed.

Tuesday morning Bernie and Serena managed to wake up before the children. They had found themselves as usual migrated to the middle of the bed, entwined in each others arms.   
“Morning” Serena says trying to remove one of her hands from underneath Bernie’s back and the other from just under Bernie’s breast. Bernie swiftly removed her hand that happened to be on Serena’s backside under her nightie but above her underwear, which Bernie was thankful for. Neither of them said anything, they tried to act as if they spent the night apart, a bit like them kissing. Neither of them spoke about that too, just enjoying it as and when it happens.

They showered and changed ready for when the children all wake up, they only do when the room service arrives with a trolley full of things to eat. Cereals for the children and toast with danishes for Bernie and Serena.  
Today they are shopping which Bernie and Serena are excited about and dreading at the same time. Excited to see the children faces when they walk into one of the biggest toy shops going onto the floor where all around is Dr Who, and dreading the impact it will have on their bank balances.

They take the short train ride into London Euston and then head on the underground to Harrods first, that way the adults may just get a little shopping done too. The children are in awe at they walk through the doors of Harrods, seeing all of the gold embellished stairway with marble walls and highly decorative sculptures everywhere.   
They start at the top level and work their way down to the basement. The children all have a bear each and Serena and Bernie have a shopping bag and a tea towel.   
“How old are we?” Serena laughs as they are paying for them.   
“Not that old thank you very much, but we could bankrupt us if we went on a proper shopping spree.” Bernie giggled as she placed her items in her new bag. 

Next they were off to Hamleys via food for lunch as the children complaining they were hungry. They found a lovely little bistro by the train station that did toasties and cakes.   
“Something for everyone.” Serena said as she looked at the menu. The children had cheese and ham toasties with no salad, Bernie had bacon, cheese and mushroom panini, Serena had parma ham and salad sandwich. Juice all around and a muffin each, telling the children there would be no further cake tonight.

Hamleys was much bigger than they thought. Charlotte ran off in one direction towards the lego, Jason ran towards the science section along with Cam so Bernie and Serena split up, Serena choosing to spend time with Charlotte.   
Charlotte was looking at the lego which you can make dolls houses with, she was playing with the ballerina taking her upstairs into one of the bedrooms then downstairs out in the garden. Serena took the dog and followed Charlotte wherever she took the ballerina, thinking back to when her daughter was that small.   
Bernie went in search for the boys who were looking at the telescopes, their newest interest was space and the constellations. Jason could name quite a few of them and all of the moons that orbit the planets. Bernie was getting quite a science a lesson from the boys who were fascinated by the solar system. They have found a ‘make solar system kit’. When they have finished it they can hang it on their wall or on their ceiling, it glows in the dark too. Bernie said she would but it for them as they had been so good.  
They all met up, Serena had let Charlotte have a small make your own dolls house that she could colour in or paint and the boys had their solar system kit.   
Then they went to the floor with all of the Doctor Who stuff, they all walked around together, having picked a few item on that floor (lunchboxes for the boys and a bionic pen for Charlotte) they headed further up.   
About an hour later and their bank balances taken a hit they left to go bowling and a night of burgers.

Jason won the first game and Charlotte won the second, all of the children beating the adults by a mile, all the way back to the hotel they were calling them ‘losers’ sticking their hand to their heads in a ‘L’ shape. They both take it graciously as they honestly did let them win……pfft yeah right.  
The night time routine was the same as last night, all falling asleep easily.

Wednesday was museum day, this time the children were wide awake and up before Bernie and Serena. They were woken by the voice on the tv and the children laughing at some gross thing that was showing on Horrible Histories. Bernie and Serena lay there watching them entwined in each other, Serena half laying on top of Bernie while she is stroking the full length of her back, every now and again playing with the wisps of hair at the base of her head. Serena pulling herself in tighter, her knee edging higher making her nightie rise in turn. Bernie not realising that her hand touches Serena’s skin as she lifts it up then takes it back down again to her arse, in return Serena bows into Bernies body as she feels her touch.   
They turn and face each other gazing into the others eyes, Serena reaches up and kisses her. This kiss is long and chaste, no tongues but with a hint of something more, only to be disturbed by the children arguing over the best time period in history.  
Today they have their breakfasts in the restaurant only hoping that the bickering would soon be over, it was as they had plenty of different food to choose and to be eating.

They get to the Science Museum first, they all loved spending the morning looking at the different experiments, even managing to see a science show. But everyones favourite was the Hubble 3D. They watched as the astronauts take off and see the universe in all of its glory, then to look down to earth as they circle it. Even Charlotte enjoyed it as she isn’t really into space.   
Next they headed straight to the Natural History Museum deciding to have their lunch there for quickness.   
Serena and Bernie followed the children wherever they went, Jason was extremely disappointed to see that the diplodocus was no longer stood proud in the entrance of the museum.  
Charlotte once again enthralled at the different clothing from the different eras loving the 1920’s clothes, listening to Serena tell her about the different classes, the upstairs downstairs time, Lords, Ladies and servants. Promising to let her watch a few episodes of Downton Abbey. 

They all decided on an early night as tomorrow they will be going to have a surprise, so they headed back to the hotel, all children grabbing a shower and heading into bed falling asleep virtually straight away.   
Serena too decided she wanted a shower headed in leaving Bernie on the sofa to watch the film that was on. Bernie could hear the running water and Serena humming a tune that she recognises but can’t say who or what the song is. Bernie closes her eyes and envisages Serena washing her hair, arching her back slightly as the hot water cascades over her body, seeing clearly the suds over her breasts down her stomach, getting a little lost on the curls and then down her shapely legs.  
Bernie was so enthralled in her dream that she didn’t hear Serena come out of the shower, until she felt her sit next to her on the sofa. Flustered and red she quickly left for a shower, but a cold one. Serena didn’t seem to notice the effect she had on her friend.

Thursday they were a little late getting up so they headed down for breakfast in the restaurant, Serena and Bernie taking advantage of the full English breakfasts, while the children have Nutella on toast. They made their way to the west end and all of the children cheered when they realised they were going to see The Lion King.   
The children were enthralled all of the way through it, the adults would have been too if they could keep their eyes of each other for more than a few minutes, sitting hand in hand, leaning into each other.

After the show they headed to grab a small lunch and then to Hyde Park. The children enjoying the space to run around and play hide and seek while the adults lay down on the grass huddled into each other. Growing closer each day, still unable to speak about their feelings to each other.  
Tea time came and they went to a local pizza place near the hotel, took a walk around then headed back for another early night, feeling the effects of the fun packed days.

Friday was their last morning to wake up in the hotel, Bernie and Serena getting washed side by side while the children getting dressed after having their own washes. They looked at each other in the mirror, Bernie wiped Serena’s face when she missed the toothpaste that was still on the corner of her mouth, a peck to the lips and she left the bathroom to get their clothes they had left on the bed. Undressing and redressing in front of each other in the small tiny space, Serena untangling Bernie when her sleeve got caught somehow.   
Now dressed and packed they headed to the Sea life centre, they are thankful for the shelter as today it decides to rain, its only drizzle but would still be unpleasant to walk in.

The Sealife Centre was huge, Charlotte was scared by the ginormous fighting crab that seemed to follow her around the tank, but she loved the starfish and the seahorses, she didn’t believe Bernie when she said the males are the ones that give birth and swap genders, she even asked a member of staff who confirmed it. Not that she believed him either, it was only when he pointed out a sign that told her she did then believe it.  
Jason and Cameron loved the sharks, Serena loved the sting rays and Bernie was just looking at Serena all of the time, so she couldn’t exactly say which was her favourite but settling on jellyfish to placate the children.

Their train was on time and they headed back home, the taxi waiting for them already. The short journey back meant that Bernie and Serena would go their separate ways until the start of the new term, only saying goodnight at the end of each day with a wave of their wine glass. Both missing each other immensely but not still able to tell one another.


	10. First ay back to school and first day for Jason.

Charlotte groaned as she was woken up for school, not wanting to get out of bed, Cam was up and dressed. Well sort of he had his jumper on back to front and inside out, which made Bernie laugh as he entered the kitchen wanting his breakfast.   
“Come on Charlotte otherwise you wont have time for breakfast.” A sleepy Charlotte stomped downstairs dressed but her curly hair splayed out everywhere. Jason Knocked on the back door and Cameron let him in, seeing as Bernie was trying to French plait Charlottes hair as she was eating her breakfast. Jason helping himself to a bowl of cereal as he sat down, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, part of the family. Serena text Bernie to say she would be over in time for them to leave. 

The chime from Chris Evans show signalled to the children it was time to get into the car, but there was no sign of Serena. Bernie traipsed through the back garden to see Serena with just her bra and trousers on after spilling coffee down herself rushing. Bernie was speechless, Serena giving her an apologetic look as she placed on a clean top. Bernie grabbed Serena’s bags and left her to follow slightly flustered. Jason moaning at her for being late as soon as she got into the car, Bernie reassuring him that they had plenty of time to get there. Jason somewhat pacified for now they headed to school.

They pulled up in the carpark with 40 minutes to spare yet Mr Hansen was waiting for Serena and Jason at the front door. Bernie took all of the bags to the classroom and waited for Serena to arrive, not exactly knowing what she intended to teach first, she had changed her mind several times over the weekend. Cameron and Charlotte played outside and waited for their friends to arrive, Jason soon joining them.  
Serena went back to her classroom with 2 mugs full of hot coffee, “try not to wear it this time.” Bernie sarcastically thanked her, Serena gave her that half smile she does so well and turned to her desk.  
“Maths then Literacy this morning.” Serena said placing the papers and books in the correct order on her desk, Bernie nodded and placed the worksheet on each child’s desk ready for when the school day started. Bernie sensed that something was off with Serena today, thinking that she is worried about Jason starting at the school today she asked Serena if it was that but had a shake of the head and carried on giving no other explanation.

The children bounded in filling their teachers with tales of what they did over the half term, some stayed at home, some went away some had day trips. They all had a tale to tell. Bernie listened to them each, Serena stared out into space. Seem to be still caught up in her own thoughts.  
They completed the maths and literacy before the bell went so Serena allowed them to have the time to do some colouring in or puzzles. Bernie sat next to her. “Spit it out, what is wrong….you have been quiet all morning. Is it Jason?” Serena shook her head and wandered around the room. The bell went and Serena quickly left without a word to Bernie.  
Bernie spent the whole lunchtime on her own in the classroom, wondering why Serena was acting so strangely around her.  
Serena didn’t return until the bell had gone to signal the end of lunch, when she did she had that fake plastered smile on her face, unable to look Bernie in the eye.  
“Ms Wolfe, can I borrow you for a minute please?” Me Hansen asks as he stands in the doorway, neither of them know that he had entered. Bernie silently nodded and followed him, passing Ms Shreve on the way passed, a brief afternoon said to each other and they continued to their destination.

Bernie was asked to go into Charlotte’s class and help out their, it was an excuse to get her away from Serena and Hansen knew that Bernie knew it. Bernie didn’t question it at all, she happily slid into the class speaking to Dom to see where she was needed. They headed outside and played with extra strong mints and coke and other fizzy drinks. The children loved the exploding pop bottles and when they got to make their own seeing who could make theirs fizz the furthest. Bernie however was in the wrong place at the wrong time when Jimmy forgot to release his and the whole bottle exploded over him and Bernie. The children and Dom found it hilarious, luckily it was time for the break bell so Bernie sent Charlotte to get her PE bag from Ms Campbells room, knowing she wasn’t wanted there.

At break Serena found Bernie in the staff toilets, she was trying to rinse the coloured liquid from her hair in the sink, Serena left and came back with a spare mug and helped her to rinse it out. They didn’t speak for a long while, only when Bernie stood to get passed her to leave is when Serena placed her hand on Bernie’s wrist. Bernie turned around and looked at her questioningly, Serena closed the gap and gently stroked Bernie’s face “I am sorry.” She whispered, Bernie didn’t respond. ‘Why was she sorry? What had she done? What had Serena done?’ All whisked through her head and still no answers. Serena closed the gap further and went to place a kiss on Bernie’s lips when the door flew open and Ms Naylor came in giving them a knowing smirk. Serena stepped back and Bernie left as quick as she could straight to Dom’s classroom.  
Dom could see the anguish in her face and sat her down. “Right Ms Wolfe, you have listened to me about my love woes and triumphs…….tell me what has got you this flustered.?” He placed a KitKat in her hand and waited.  
“I love her.” Bernie finally spoke but didn’t elaborate.  
Dom smiled at her. “You need to her that and not me.” Bernie barked a laugh and shook her head. “She is my best friend Dom, I wont ruin that, I have ruined my family and my friendships before…..I wont do that to her.” Dom sighed but accepted her answer, he didn’t know what caused the end of her marriage just that she had to leave and not by choice.

The bell rang and Dom told her to stay in the classroom while he took them over for assemble, she can sharpen the pencils if she was desperate to do something. That art was the last thing of the day and they were all set up thanks to Morven. Bernie did in fact check all of the crayons while she waited, she found herself checking the children drawers to make sure that all of their books were in the right place, she came across Charlottes and saw a picture that she had drawn. The picture was of them all, including Serena and Jason. She suddenly noticed that her hands were joined by Serena’s, Bernie wondered if Charlotte had noticed that she had feelings for her best friend or that it was something that friends do. She planned to speak to her about it later, when she tucks her into bed.  
The class noisily entered the room and Serena placed the picture back in Charlotte’s drawer and left to sit with a group of children, she was almost sure that she would get glued to the table or chair by one of the youngsters spilling the runny glue.

The ride home was comfortable until Charlotte handed Serena something before they left the car. “A thank you for our trip to London.” Charlotte said with a kiss to her cheek, the kids left the car and a stunned Serena sat there looking at the picture. She looked to Bernie then back at the drawing then quickly said their goodbyes and left to go home.  
Bernie did her usual routine, homework, tea, bath, story then bed. She tucked Charlotte in and sat on the edge of her bed. A finger stroked her hair behind Charlotte’s ear and Bernie sighed. “In the picture….” Charlotte smiled and nodded. “Did you like it mummy?” Bernie beamed a smile back “yes darling I really did, but can I ask why are Ms Campbell and I holding hands?” Bernie held her breath and waited. Charlottes answer was childlike and simple in her eyes. “Because you love her mummy, and if you love someone you hold their hands like you do with Ms Campbell.” Bernie tried in vain to hide her shocked face. “Yes I do Charlotte, thank you.” She placed a kiss to her forehead and left her to go to sleep.

She headed downstairs, cleared the sides and placed the dishes in the dishwasher, only to find Serena waiting for her at the back gate. Bernie stayed out of sight to see what she did next, Serena turned tails and went back to her house, grabbed a glass and poured her wine and stood in her usual spot. Bernie did the same, a wave of their glass goodnight and they left to head upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope i'm not boring you yet xx


	11. Bonfire Night.  Well almost.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A complication with Charlotte makes them change their plans to Bonfire night,

It is bonfire night later on this week (2 days away) and the children all begged while sitting around the table to go to the local Mayors Charity Firework Display. Bernie was apprehensive about going as she wasn’t good with loud bangs but Serena sat there and looked at her for an answer.   
“You all go and I will stay here and cook something warm for when you all return along with hot chocolate.” Serena looked disappointed at the suggestion but she saw the scared look in Bernie’s eyes and knew there must be a reason for it, she wouldn’t disappoint the children for no reason.  
Serena came to her rescue. “I will take you all, then we shall come here and have hot dogs, and hot chocolate.” The children all cheered and Bernie gave her a smile and a deep sigh of relief. Serena made a mental note to ask her why another time.

Charlotte has been very quiet this morning, not eaten much if any of her cereal. They headed off to school but Bernie noticed that Charlotte didn’t look very well, she was pale and grey, she insisted that she went to school as it was the day that they choose the parts for the upcoming end of term play and she desperately wanted to play the Angel. Bernie told her she can go but must tell someone if she starts to feel more unwell or wants to go home. She half smiles and follows her brother and Jason in that car.

It is playtime, Bernie and Serena are enjoying their coffee in the classroom when Bernie hears Cameron screaming her name from across the playground. She and Serena scramble up of the reading corner and headed out of the classroom to see Ms Effanga leaning over a child who is lying lifeless in the floor. As they got closer Bernie noticed it was Charlotte, Essie had already called for an ambulance, Bernie scooped her daughter up and ran with her to Mr Hansen’s office where she lays her down on the leather sofa and Serena is following closely behind keeping Cameron at bay.   
Charlotte is flushed and holding her stomach, Bernie palpitates the stomach and sees her daughter scream when she lifts her fingers right where the appendix is. The ambulance arrives quickly and Serena tells her to go, that she will look after Cameron and will join her at the hospital later, after school unless otherwise told.  
Jason is visibly upset and concerned for Charlotte, his friend so is taken to the nurture room with Fletch, he sends all of the other children out and has asked for Cameron to join them, who knows he will be a calming influence to him and have concerns for his sister himself. Cameron brings in a book on the solar system from the library and tells Jason they need to look at it so they can soon build their kit, they both want it to be as accurate as possible.  
Jason manages not to go into a full attack and sticks by Cameron all day.

Serena keeps her mobile and sends Bernie a text every hour if she hasn’t heard anything. “It is her appendix. They are taking Charlotte into surgery in the next hour.” Was the last text sent to Serena and that was at 1.30pm, Serena quietly spoke to Henrik who told her to go, that Mo will have Cameron and Jason, that he will take over her class for the rest of the day. Serena explained to Henrik that Jason wouldn’t cope with another sudden change in his schedule like that so he agreed that they can all leave to go to the hospital but to tell Jason that Ms Effanga will be collecting them at 5pm to take them out for tea and to take them back to Bernie’s for a sleepover where she can join them when she is finished at the hospital.   
Serena did just that and took the boys off to meet Bernie at the hospital. 

As soon as Serena arrived Bernie flew her arms around her and hung on for dear life, crying in her neck. Serena brings her down to sit on the floor outside the theatre where they sat together.  
“It is all my fault, I should have seen that she was unwell.” Bernie finally spoke with more tears threatening to fall.  
“Nonsense, she looked pale and felt unwell, it could have been anything. You gave the doctors a head start on a diagnosis because you knew what to look out for.” Serena smiled at her hoping to ease the emotional turmoil she is in, it seemed to work. Bernie’s eyes flitted once again to Serena’s lips then her eyes, they joined their lips and kissed briefly. They hear a small cough, look up to find a Mr Di Luca standing in front of them slightly embarrassed. He coughed again and in his broad Scottish accent he told them that Charlotte is fine, it hadn’t ruptured and she will be in recovery soon where they can sit with her. The boys were escorted to the playroom, they were kept occupied by the free reign of a computer, watching the new episode of Horrible Histories on the CBBC channel website.

They sat side by side hands entwined waiting for Charlotte to wake, when she finally does her first words were to Bernie. “See mummy, you can hold hands and kiss the person you love.” Bernie’s hands tried to part from Serena’s and Serena wouldn’t allow it, she held on tighter and placed their joined hands back on her lap until she was satisfied that Bernie knew it was ok.   
Serena had been really silly this week, she finally realised that she loved her best friend, like truly loved her. That what she said to Ric all those weeks back when she admitted she had feelings for her, it was more than friendship but she wanted to give it, this a try. To break her track record of disastrous relationships and make a go if it with Bernie. She just needed to tell Bernie that and now was not the right time.  
Charlotte still drowsy from the anaesthetic fell back asleep until she was back on the ward surrounded by Mo, Cam, Jason, Serena and her mum.  
Charlotte waved goodbye to her brother and Jason, Serena promising to follow shortly and Bernie telling Cam that she needs to stay in hospital with Bernie and Charlotte for a while. Bernie told the boys that she will see him after school tomorrow when Serena brings them back to the hospital to visit Charlotte, she told them to be on their best behaviour for Mo and Serena, they nodded and give her a hug before they left.

“Mum.” Cameron pipes up just before they all leave. “If Charlotte is still in hospital, can we watch the fireworks together, her room faces the park, its just over the main road look.” Bernie nods apprehensively and he leaves telling Jason that they will be watching the fireworks from Charlottes room and they will be warm all night, bonus.  
Serena and Bernie fuss over Charlotte who laps up the attention by having them laying on the bed each side of her. Occasionally eyes meeting or fingers brushing as they sit and read to her, stroking her hair back from her face.

It is time for Serena to go and Bernie walks her to her car, Charlotte is fast asleep and together they have made the camp bed up ready for Bernie to sleep there. As they walk out of the ward, Bernie’s fingers brush then tangle in Serena’s as they walk side by side, Serena asking her to keep her updated and anything that they need she will bring in, she has a small a list already and she promises to bring it in tomorrow after school. Serena is leaning against a concrete pillar when Bernie closes in and kisses her. Bernie presses her Bodie so they are flush against each other and curves her fingers around Serena’s jaw. Serena pulls her impossibly closer by her hips and keeps her there, its the first time it has been as passionate as this is. They break apart panting, saying goodnight and waving as Serena leaves in Bernie’s car, not wanting to leave her friend at the hospital alone but knowing she has to look after the boys.  
Bernie takes a moment and sees Fletch walk out of the hospital hand in hand with Charlotte’s surgeon. Fletch stops in his tracks and walks over to her, still holding hands with Raf.   
“Fletch what are you….” She is interrupted by Fletch explaining that Raf is his partner and he works here, Raf explains that he is the one who operated on Charlotte, then they see Mo’s partner Derwood pass them. “Its a small world, we all either work here or at the school it seems.” The men nod and smile at Bernie’s statement, say their goodnights and head in their own direction.

Bernie sends a text to Serena that she has seen Fletch with the Scottish doctor and they are ‘partners’, and that Derwood is on the way to pick Mo up as he has just left the hospital too. Bernie settles on the camp bed and gets some sleep, well as much as she can with the various machines bleeping and staff wandering in and out. Her dreams are filled of Serena, her friend, and her…..what ever she is, making a note to ask her what they are.

Two evenings later, Cameron, Jason and Charlotte are all on the bed which they have now moved to the window to watch the firework show. Serena has brought in snacks for the children and made them all hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows in the patient kitchen. Bernie takes hers and Serena’s off her while they sit together on the camp bed behind the children, their backs leaning against the wall.   
Bernie is getting fidgety and has to apologise several times to Serena for nearly spilling the drinks in their hands.  
“I don’t like loud bangs.” Bernie whispers to Serena, Serena gets up and leads them to the parents kitchen so they can talk without small ears listening in, knowing that Bernie wouldn’t want the children to know.  
“Since leaving the army, loud bangs make me twitchy and jumpy……”. Serena rubs Bernie’s upper arm and pulls her in for a hug.   
“Do you want to go home and I will stay with the children, say you gone to get a change of clothes and a shower?” Serena asks wondering if its the right thing to say.  
Bernie smiles and shakes her head. “I think here maybe more soundproof than home, especially if I hear a loud bang in the car.” Bernie says hoping it is true.  
Serena tells Bernie to wait here, that she needs to do something. She leaves the kitchen and asks explains to the nurse about Bernie’s situation, the nurse understands Bernie’s situation and tells them to go to the on call room, she writes Serena the code for the door and tells her she wont hear any of the fireworks, that she will sit with the children as long as she can have a hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows too. Serena tells her she will bring it in and heads back to Bernie who is standing nervously leaning on the counter top.  
“I have a solution, do you trust me?” Bernie’s eyes meet Serena’s and she nods, “great, I just need to make another hot chocolate, you stay here until I get back.” Bernie finally releases her shoulders and nods. Serena makes an extra drink, leaves with it and comes back with theirs. “Follow me.” Serena says with a flick of her head. Bernie follows and is shocked to find herself in a staff space alone with Serena.

The door shuts and Bernie stands nervously, Serena places the mugs of cool chocolate and floating marshmallows down on the bedside table and pats the bed for Bernie to sit next to her. Bernie does and looks at her with her big brown doughy eyes. Serena hands her a mug and tells her to drink up before it is a solid bar of chocolate, Bernie smiles, looks down nervously. They drink in silence but when the final dregs of the chocolatey liquid leaves a moustache like mark on Bernie’s lips, Serena has to lean in and kiss it off, there was no other option really.  
Thats how it started, Serena lies down on the bed and brings Bernie with her. They kiss and kiss, hands start to wander over clothes, pulling the other one closer. They are lying side by side, enjoying the taste of each other, eyes meeting every now and then before kissing once again.  
They haven’t spoken a word since they started to kiss, yes moans and gasps were made between them both but other than that nothing.  
It must have been nearly 2 hours later when a knock on the door from the nurse signalling that the firework show is over and is safe to come out. There was one thing for sure and that was the room was certainly soundproof. They left the room with swollen well kissed lips, dishevelled clothes, ruffled hair and went back to Charlotte’s room. They hadn’t been missed at all.  
Serena told the boys it was time to leave and they will see Charlotte at home tomorrow when they come home from school as long as she behaves herself and doesn’t undo her stitches.  
Serena kisses Charlotte goodnight and leaves with Bernie’s eye watching her leave, Serena looks up to see Bernie standing at the window, they wave one last time before she gets in the car to take the boys back to Bernie’s. 

The following day Charlotte is discharged and Bernie has to ring Serena at school to come and collect them, which she does at lunchtime after making sure that her class is covered until she gets back. Charlotte and Bernie are waiting outside and talking to Raf who was just about to start his late shift, Bernie invites them all over for tea one night now the other knows how they all fit into each others lives, maybe Mo and Derwood too, to say thanks. Fletch has just been approved to move with Jason when he goes to high school in the upcoming months. He has already devised a plan that means that Jason will be soon visiting his new school once every 2 weeks after Christmas. Fletch will be picking him up from school and taking him home too. Serena is delighted and says that they should also bring their children too, so they all get to know each other more. Raf agrees and they will set a date in the future when it all calms down for them all. He hates this time of year, its busy for them all with firework related injuries and children that think it is fun to go and play in the park after dark and hurt themselves on the play equipment.

They are now home and Charlotte is placed on the sofa with the latest reading book from school that Serena had exchanged for her. For someone who shouldn’t be reading books like Rhoald Dahl for her age, she loves them. Serena brought her her own copy of ‘The Twits’ that they have just finished reading in class “But don’t let your mother do the voices….she will confuse all the characters.” Bernie huffs in mock offence and smacks Serena’s bum playfully. Charlotte laughs at them and tells Serena she will enjoy it all the same.  
Serena promises to return at the end of the school day when she will bring home some tea as both of the boys have science class after school. Bernie sees her out and they kiss very briefly on the doorstep before Serena heads back to school.

“I like Ms Campbell.” Charlotte starts, Bernie wondering where this is going to go. “I think she would make a great mum to me and Cameron, I don’t like having a dad, but I would like another mum.” Bernie sits there speechless, she was sure that Charlotte never witnessed what Marcus did to her, but she must have seen the bruises or been told by Cam. “You know,” Charlotte continues, “I know that people can have 2 mums like they can have 2 dads. Fletch has children and he is married to a man, so their children have 2 dads.” ‘When has Charlotte spoken to Fletch?’ Bernie wonders, then she knows that Raf mentioned Fletch in a conversation where she was present, telling them about how Mikey has moved up to big school and hates it because his big sister has to walk with him everyday.  
Charlotte if nothing else is very perceptive and observant.  
“Yes,” Bernie finally stringing a few words together. “Families come all in different shapes and sizes, but none of the are wrong. As long as they are all happy.” Charlotte nods, “we are happy with Serena and Jason, you smile again when she is around. I like it when you smile, its been a long time since you smiled.” Bernie has to hold back the tears that she can feel forming in her eyes, knowing that it is true, she is always happier when Serena is around and she loves Jason as her own.

The boys come running through the house like a whirlwind. Charlotte is at the table colouring in part of her dolls house when Serena places the fish and chips for them all on the counter ready for Bernie to serve up. They all eat together and share their days at school and what the doctors said about Charlotte. She will be allowed back at school next week but no PE for about 3 more weeks or until her stitches have healed properly.  
Jason asks if he can stay but Serena insists that they go home, maybe at the weekend they can all spend it together, going to the cinema or something. This appeases Jason for now, they say their goodbyes and leave for the night.   
Charlotte washed at the sink as she still can’t have a shower, Cameron now all clean too as they complete their nightly routine. Story cuddles then bed.

Serena and Bernie as per normal share a wave with the wine glass to say goodnight and head to bed themselves. Tomorrow Morven will sit with Charlotte while Bernie goes into work, for rest and to spend her time once again with Serena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't get too excited folks.....


	12. The Weekend.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlotte is still recovering and family time is needed.

Bernie woke up to a knock on the back door, Jason is eager to visit his friends and 9am is late enough, he couldn't wait any longer. Cameron and Charlotte are still asleep as she lets him in, giving him a drink before sending him up to wake Cam up. Bernie wonders if he has told Serena again where he has gone to, so sends her a quick text to say that Jason is with her and to come over when she is ready. Serena appears in the kitchen window, Bernie smiles as she can see Serena’s bed hair sticking up at all angles, ‘and she has the audacity to moan about my hair being messy’ she thinks to herself with a cheeky smile. Bernie lifts a coffee mug and Serena makes her way over in her dressing gown with no makeup and all. Serena enters the kitchen accepts the freshly made coffee and pecks Bernie’s lips, who shys away. Serena looks at her, wondering what has changed. They have done this plenty of times and the kids aren’t even there, Bernie notices the confusion and indicates for her to sit down, trying to formulate what she wants to say but before they can have the conversation the kids bound into the kitchen demanding breakfast.

Bernie obliges and feeds them all, discussing what film they want to see. Amazingly they all agree on Goosebumps 2, but Jason insists on watching the first one before they go as he hasn’t seen it yet. Bernie and Serena agree, so they all get changed and prepare for a morning film then a trip to the cinema. Before Serena leaves the garden Bernie grabs her hand and asks her to wait, pulls her in close and holds on to the lapels of her dressing gown, suddenly realising that she has nothing underneath and chances her luck with a brief glance. Serena notices that Bernie’s eyes haven’t yet risen from her cleavage, she huffs sarcastically and lifts Bernie’s chin so their eyes meet.  
“We need to talk, but without the children around. If I can get Mo to have the children one night or Morven in fact, can we…….we…..erm…… go out ……. together……. on………a…… date?” Bernie finally takes a breathes out that breath she was holding in, her eyes are looking anywhere but at Serena’s, but Serena waits until they do. “Yes, I would like that.” She replies and Bernie beams a smile at her. “Yes, Bernie I would like to go out on a date with you.” She pecks her lips and leaves to get changed. Both women stunned at themselves.

Bernie immediately texts Mo but she is busy for the next few weekends, but she will have them in about 3 weeks, Bernie doesn’t want to wait that long of she can help it, and its getting very close to Christmas party season and doesn't want that neither. So she text Morven, who responds the same. 3 weeks it will have to be then, just hope they can hold out on having ‘the conversation’ until then.

Jason and Serena come back just as Bernie is coming down stairs, towelling her golden locks dry. Serena smiles and holds out the bag of goodie which contains fruit as snacks, they will eat popcorn and chocolate at the cinema later today. They head into the kitchen to prepare the variety of fruit and dish it out, standing close so close that their arms rub as they chop and brush past each other to reach for things that are purposefully on the opposite side to where they are.   
The children are seeing up the DVD that Cam has found amongst his collection. Every now and then their eyes meet and linger only to go back to what they were supposed to be doing, the similar dance of the past few weeks but something has shifted, they both sense it is more than a friendship, but what is it?

They all squash on the sofa with Charlottes quilt over them, the boys either side of them and Charlotte squashed in the middle. Both Bernie and Serena wrapped their arms around Charlotte resting their hand high on the others thigh, gentle touches and squeezes as they look at each other, a simple sign to say all is ok, Charlotte is fine and the boys coped well. Jason was enjoying the satsumas and Cam was eating anything, Charlotte only liked the apples and bananas, Serena’s nose crinkled every time she offered her one, Bernie laughed each time knowing that the smell of the ripened bananas made her feel queasy. Bernie had the grapes, annoying the kids and Serena as she placed them in her lips to suck them in and making a loud popping sound or throws them in the air to catch them with her mouth, Jason gave her his evil ‘i’m not impressed eye’ that he has learned so well from Serena, she sheepishly places the grapes back down and smirks.

All fruit eaten and film finished the children were allowed to play in their rooms as they requested, the wind and rain prevented them from going outside today. Serena and Bernie enjoyed the peace and quiet while drinking their coffees, Bernie is trying to book the tickets online but the system keeps crashing so she hopes that when they get to the cinema they can all sit together. Sandwiches prepared and fresh popcorn made by Serena they all sat around the table to eat before heading to the cinema. “Mum, can we go out for tea and still have the sleep over tonight.” Charlotte quietly asked. She enjoyed having Serena and Jason to stay with them. Bernie looked at Serena who nodded and they both simultaneously said that was ok and she gets to choose where were going to eat. That was simple McDonalds, Bernie and Serena mouthed the words as it came out of Charlottes mouth, Jason and Cam cheering.

They all bundled into Bernie’s car and headed to the local cinema with fresh popcorn smelling the car out, even though they were not hungry they were all fighting over it before they entered the cinema. They stopped at the local supermarket to get chocolates and pop before walking to the theatre.  
Just as they got to the cinema, Jason spotted Fletch with two of his children and ran over to him, nearly tugging him back in the direction of Serena and Bernie. Serena was furious that he just ran off and had to speak to him about the dangers of doing it, which put him in a mood. Serena threatened to take him home immediately if he didn’t behave himself. He knew he shouldn’t have done it, he has been warned but for someone his age he can easily be lead astray. He apologised and gave her a hug then apologised to Fletch too, they decided to all sit together. Mikey with the boys and Evie sat with Charlotte who was glad of some female company as at home she only has Ella, who is a baby and currently with Raf.  
Fletch sat with the children, the other side of Mikey and Serena with Bernie sat in the middle on the row behind them as there were no more seats but they are in arms length of them all. Snuggled side by side, hands entwined which hasn’t gone unnoticed by Fletch but did go uncommented on as they watch the film. 

Part way through the film, the children had ran out of popcorn so they started on their chocolate, sharing with Fletch and his children, they also shared the treats that they had brought. Serena and Bernie had rather a peaceful cinematic experience. Bernie whispered something to Serena who turned and smiled at her, their noses bumped, their eyes met but neither of them moved for a while, Serena closing the gap finally. They kissed for a while, Fletch trying to keep the kids engaged in the film and not disturbing them and their teenage behaviour, they only part when Jason states he needs to go to the toilet, Serena parts from Bernie and takes him. When they come back they once again snuggle into each other, Bernie resting her head on Serena’s shoulder with her head on top of Bernie’s until the end of the film.

The kids cajoled Fletch, Mikey and Evie (not that the kids minded) going to McDonalds with them. Fletch sent of a quick text to Raf and walked the short distance next to the ladies. “So,” he starts with that cheeky twinkle in his eye, “how long have you been seeing one another, you kept that very quiet.” Bernie and Serena stopped walking briefly and stared at him, widened the distance between themselves and Serena replied cautiously “were not…..erm I don’t think……erm…….Jason wait up.” She quickens her pace to meet up with Jason and the children leaving Bernie stunned and Fletch looking like he got the biggest piece of gossip for the newspapers of the year. Fletch looks at Bernie for an answer, she looks to the floor and then adoringly to Serena, takes a deep breath, “we haven’t spoken about it, we only have kissed a few times………We are…..were, going on a date, but we have no one to have the kids.” Fletch smiled, the answer is simple. “I will have them for you, another 3 to our clan wont make much difference.” Bernie thanked him and shook her head, she explained that if Jason stops her house, Serena has to sleep over too otherwise he gets too upset. Fletch nods indicating he understands, “leave it with me, I shall speak to Jason, even if I have to come over to you, then you can still go on a date…..yeah?” Bernie beamed him a smile “Thanks Fletch we will owe you one, thats if she still wants to go.” He rubs her arm, they enter the restaurant and find somewhere where they can all sit together. 

Bernie and Serena order for them all after fending off Fletch’s advancements to pay stating that it is their children’s fault they are here in the first place. He sits with the kids and starts to make a plan for them all to have one big sleepover at his, hoping that Jason would have enough time to adjust to the change in his schedule, Jason takes his time and thinks about the offer, he nods. “I think that would be ok as I know you very well and I know Raf now. But as long as I can FaceTime Aunty Serena before I go to bed, I think I will be ok.” Fletch smiles and sends a quick text to Raf to see when they can accommodate and extra 3 children. As they are free Friday and Raf has a late shift Saturday at the hospital, they decide that then is the best time that the children can stay over, he confirms with them and asks them to keep it a secret for now from the ladies. Jason is unsure, but Fletch tells him that he is not lying, that he is keeping a secret so they can make the arrangements ready before they can say no. “A bit like you, Cam and Charlotte making plans to get us here at McDonalds, I just couldn’t say no.” Jason nods and promises not to say anything until Monday.

They all tuck into their meals and drinks, talking about high school for Fletch’s children who already attend there; it is the one where Jason will be going, so he is glad that he knows someone there already. Mikey promising him that he will show him around on his first visit, which Fletch smiled at as his son isn’t usually the most helpful. Evie says she will keep an eye out too but has lots of activities on a break, “he is more than welcome to join a few when he starts”, suggesting science club and maths club, she explains to Serena and Bernie that she wants to be a doctor like her dad. Bernie says she will help her too as she once was a trauma surgeon when she was in the army, the rest of the time was spent talking about stories of her time in Afghanistan and Iraq, telling them that a whole school of kids were always better behaved than 10 of her new recruits.

They say their goodbyes and head home, Serena starts to become nervous again, glancing and looking at Bernie as she drives, biting her bottom lip and playing with her pendant. Bernie squeezes her knee and smiles, Serena melts and knows that all is ok, they are ok. She places her hand over Bernie’s to interlink their fingers until Bernie needs it to change gear, then Bernie finds Serena’s hand waiting for her. The short drive means the kids are barely awake when they arrive home, Charlotte has had a busy day all in all and is carried to her bedroom by Bernie where she is left to get changed into her pyjamas, the boys are in the bathroom with Bernie, making sure they brush their teeth. Serena peeks into Charlotte as she is now laying in bed, she has her dose of paracetamol and a glass of water.   
“Can we talk Ms Campbell.” Serena sits on her bed and nods with a smile. “Yes, for a few minutes, but only if you call me Serena when we are out of school, but when we are in school it must be Ms Campbell, ok?” Charlotte smiles “Yes thank you. Erm…..” She fidgets with her duvet and teddy, Serena holds her hand and waits for her to think about what she wants to say, 'she is just like her mother’ Serena thinks.  
“You know my mum is happy when you are around don’t you?” Serena is taken aback by her words but knows she is speaking the truth. “I do, yes.” Charlotte smiles, “does she make you happy too Serena?” Serena nods “she does, she makes me very happy.” Now managing to look Serena in the eyes she asks her final question, “do you love us all?” The answer was immediate, no hesitation. “Yes I do, I love you all, I was so scared when you were so poorly, I already lost a daughter I couldn’t bare to loose another.” Bernie was listening just aside of the doorway, tears in her eyes. Serena loves her, loves her children like her own, thinks of them as her own too. Bernie looks at Jason who is reading with Cam, thinking of how they are already a perfect family. In just a few short months, 3 to be precise her world has changed for the better, because of Serena. She decides not to enter, to give them the space they need, she waits for Serena to go down stairs before saying goodnight to Charlotte and tucking her in as she is almost fast asleep, murmuring goodnight to her mum as the light is switched off. “10 more minutes boys then lights out please,” they moan but agree and promise to switch the light off after their 10 minutes is up. Bernie heads downstairs to Serena.

Serena has places the radio on, classical fm, “romantic night apparently.” Serena tells Bernie, she nods takes her glass of wine that Serena poured ready and sat with her on the sofa. It starts of stilted, they sit far apart on purpose, fidgety through song after song then Bernie stands, she holds out her hand to Serena and pulls her up, places her arm around her waist until it reaches the small of her back, her hands are shaking. Serena wraps one arm around Bernie’s neck plays with the small hairs on the base of her neck and the entwine their fingers together as they sway to the slow beat of the music, it is Andrea Bocelli singing with Celine Dion, ‘The Prayer’.   
Serena’s eyes tear up, the sentiment of the moment between them and the words, asking a loved one to watch over them as they continue to live. ‘Praying to be our eyes and watch us where we go.’ Bernie pulls her tighter as Serena lays her head on Bernie’s shoulder, silent tears falling for both now. She never knew Elinor, but she has lost enough comrades to empathise with losing a child. “She will always watch over you Serena.” Bernie quietly says, “Elinor will always he with you, in your heart.” Bernie untangles their fingers as Bernie places her hand over Serena’s heart. Serena looks up at Bernie, her eyes are red and watery too, they share a small smile, looking at each others lips then eyes, not knowing if they can do this, like this. Serena places her head back on Bernie’s shoulder, her lips meeting Bernie’s neck. Bernie almost gasps and lifts her chin, so if she wanted she could continue but she doesn’t. The song is over and they are both emotionally drained. Bernie takes Serena by the hand and leads her to bed, they sleep tangled together, almost how they danced, with Serena’s lips almost touching Bernie’s neck, still paying with the short curls on the base of her head.

When they wake they find Charlotte has joined them at some point, lying between them awake, the boys are downstairs trying to get their own breakfast ‘being helpful’ and not disturbing the ladies, Charlotte still singing quietly to herself, its one of the school songs they sing in assemble, Serena finds herself waking singing it with her. Bernie stirs and watches the interaction of a sleepy Serena and an awake Charlotte singing together in almost harmony. Bernie turns so she can see them properly, not just through the corner of her eye as she turns her head as much as possible, causing a creak to appear. Charlotte is playing with Serena’s hair, stroking it behind her ear, just as her mum does to her and to herself. Serena’s eyes haven’t properly opened yet, so Bernie runs her cold foot on Serena’s to stir her further, but her eyes remain closed but she is smiling. Bernie knows she is awake now, she is enjoying this moment with Charlotte, thinking that maybe she is sharing it with Ellie too. Bernie wonders if the bubble may burst when she opens her eyes, but it doesn’t, when she opens her eyes Charlotte and Serena share a knowing look. They sing the last verse before Serena pulls her in for a hug, encouraging Bernie to join them too “ladies who cuddle.” Charlotte moans “I am not a lady yet.” Serena laughs and changes it, “to a girly cuddle then.” Charlotte nods to say that was fine, Bernie places her face to Serena’s as Charlotte’s face is on top of Serena’s, they rub noses a quick peck on the lips before Bernie heads to find the boys, leaving Serena and Charlotte to get up when they are ready.

Bernie sighs at the sight of her kitchen, cereal and milk are everywhere, the bowls are left on the table and spoons are strewn across the sideboard, juice is in the fridge but they had forgotten to shut the door. She secretly thanks at least it wasn’t the freezer door they left open. Serena enters the kitchen and moans at the sight, she was about to shout at the boys but a smile and a shake of the head from Bernie says its ok. They make themselves breakfast and cereal for Charlotte, the kettle is on but then Bernie notices that they have ran out of milk. “Strong and hot is all I care about today.” Serena says with a twinkle in her eye that makes Bernie blush, so they have black coffee’s and juice with their toast.  
Serena loves autumn and as it is a nice warm day she suggests a walk in their local woods, not far from the park. It was an old coal mine that has turned into a country park, they could take a picnic and walk around the lake. The boys run and grab their wellies, Cam grabs Charlotte’s too helping her in them as she still finds it hard to bend down. They place their trainers in a bag and put them in the boot ready to go. Bernie puts the oven on low, placing a generous side of beef on a tray with some carrots, onions and parsnips, she places it in the oven so it will be ready for later.

The kids loved the walk in the woods, chasing each other around throwing leaves at each other. Serena started it when she threw a load of them over Cam, who in turn threw them over Jason and so on. They even tried to do leaves angels but it didn’t work that well and they had mud up all their backs but it didn’t matter, they were having fun and the washing machine would handle the mud. They paddle in the lake playing with the dogs who wanted to swim, throwing a ball in for them with the owners permission, Jason was unsure at first but after watching Cam and Charlotte doing it a few times, he soon joined in as long as the dogs didn’t approach him directly.   
Bernie and Serena sat on the concrete rock at the edge of the water, watching as they children played together and skimming rocks once the dogs had left, Jason proving a very good skimmer with 8 bounces declaring himself the winner. Serena and Bernie cheer the champion and give him a high five as they walk further around the lake to the cluster of rocks where they have their picnic. Jason complains about the lack of a table but Serena assures him it is ok and he is doing the same as all of them. He sits crossed legged on the rock with his lunchbox on his knees making sure it doesn’t fall anywhere, manning with each mouthful. Cam and Charlotte ignore his moans, Serena and Bernie roll their eyes fondly as they sit next to each other sharing from their lunch boxes which has become their natural habit now, occasionally feeding each other tit bits of food. 

As it is getting dark and they have walked almost the whole area of the country park they head home, Serena agreeing to help with tea while the children start their night routine, Jason managing to beg another night at Bernie’s house as long as he gets all of his stuff for school ready after tea with no arguments. He agrees and heads for a shower first, Charlotte heads to the ensuite for a strip down wash, hopefully after Thursday she can have a shower too, but not with her stitches still there she can’t. Cam packs his bag and Charlottes too as she is back in school, wanting desperately to get back to see her friends. Jason shouts Cam when he is finished, leaving the shower running for him, so it is still nice and warm as he gets in. Charlotte comes downstairs ready in her pj’s, she puts on the tv waiting for the boys to finish. Jason is next and then Cam shortly after.  
Tea is served and they all tuck in, Jason loving the Yorkshire puddings that Serena has made, promising to share the recipe with Bernie one day. Bernie making the fluffiest mash that Serena has ever tasted, saying that the ricer makes it like that rather than using a masher, oh with plenty of butter and cream (not milk). Serena smiles and takes another large spoonful on her plate along with extra veg, she is pleased that Jason is trying the different veg as he usually only eats sweetcorn and peas but today he is enjoying carrots and parsnips too.

They all enjoy ice-cream for pudding, a treat only saved for Sundays. Bowls and plates cleared away, Serena takes Jason home so they can get ready for school tomorrow and bring what they need to Bernie’s. They are all tired and head to bed early to enjoy their bedtime story, they boys reading to themselves and Bernie reading a chapter of the book to Charlotte and Charlotte reading a chapter back.

The ladies are tired and are in need of their bed but not before the ladies enjoy their nightly glass of wine, sitting cosily on the sofa chatting about what they are doing for the next week in school. Once in bed, they fall asleep in each others arms until the alarm rings out in the morning.


	13. Bullied?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is Jason acting the way that he did because he was bullied?

Serena and Jason went back home and things continued in the normal manner until Wednesday lunchtime when Serena and Bernie were approached by Fletch offering to have the children the following night, telling them that they have already spoken to Jason and that he is ok with it as long as he can FaceTime Serena when it is bedtime. Bernie and Serena looked sheepishly at each other, “that would be lovely thank you Fletch, are you sure Raf is ok with it?” Serena crossing her fingers as she asks. He smiles “Oh yes, it was his suggestion it being Friday as he is on a late on Saturday and it doesn’t matter if the children have a late night. Anyway have a good night ladies.” With that he leaves the classroom with a wink as he closes the door.  
“Ah……erm……Friday then,” *cough* “would……wou…….would you like to go out with me…………a date?” Bernie’s voice getting higher at the end; hoping that they would finally get to do this, speak about what this is between them. Serena blushed furiously, her hand played with the pendant around her neck and nodded, “what time should I be ready for?” Her eyes finally meeting Bernie’s, her spare hand fiddling with the school books on her desk as she walked over nervously not daring yet to look at Bernie, “I shall pick you up at 6.00, we shall take the children to Fletch’s and then go out?” Hoping that is the right answer and is taken back by Serena shaking her head. “We take the children and then come back home to get ready. Then go out, so I have time to get properly dressed for our date.” Bernie’s smile reappeared and agreed. This way the knowledge of the date is between them and most probably fletch, oh and Raf!

The bell rings to signal the end of lunch, Serena gets changed in the little cupboard as it is PE this afternoon and neither of them are dressed. Bernie goes to fetch the children in, making them wait a few minutes outside, giving Serena that little extra time, she will get changed while Serena reads the register and children get dressed ready for PE.   
This all goes to plan until Serena tries to go back in the cupboard as she forgot to put on and bring out her trainers from the store cupboard. She opens the door to find a nearly naked Bernie standing the other side of the door. She quickly closes it with her on the same side of it, Bernie holding her shirt to her chest in one hand and her bra in the other hand; this is because when she wears her lycra top she has no need for the bra.   
Bernie and Serena just stare at each other silently, Serena’s eyes wandering all over Bernie’s nearly naked form, Bernie glowing redder by the second as she can hear Serena’s breathing get laboured. When the door shut and they both missed the clunk, the door had locked on its own with the key in Serena’s handbag, that is with them in the store cupboard but no keyhole their side.  
Serena grabs her trainers and goes to open the door, walking into it with a thud. She tries the handle a few times but nothing, it doesn’t open. She shouts Cam’s and Emily’s name, Cam to go and fetch Mr Hansen and Miss Shreve immediately and Emily to start reading the next chapter of the book and to get all of the children into the reading corner immediately. They can hear the children moving around, hoping that they are going to do as they are asked, they sigh of relief when Emily starts reading in her loud voice. 

Serena stands with her back to the door, still appraising Bernie who is still frozen in place, she wants to drop her hands but then she will be completely exposed and Serena is enjoying the view to much to move. Bernie only does move when she hears Hansen’s voice from the other side; now moving in a flash, putting on her lycra top and trousers. Serena is very disappointed when she turns back around to make sure Bernie is ok, to find she is dressed.  
They haven’t undressed in front of each other despite spending sharing the same bed on multiple occasions, yes they have seen each other in night attire, silk skimpy ones for Serena, but actual skin beneath, never. Apart from the cheeky glance the other day, when Serena was wearing only her dressing gown.

Hansen tells them that he will do the PE lesson with Ms Shreve and that Essie has already called for help to the caretaker, but he is stuck in traffic and may take a couple of hours to free them. Bernie slides down the wall and Serena does the same against the door. Serena still unable to control her breathing at the sight of Bernie all dressed in lycra, now for no reason and she is in her what she calls as her ‘frumpy PE tracksuit and t-shirt’. Bernie doesn’t find it frumpy at all, she loves the way the t-shirt moulds to her body, showing of Serena’s magnificent breasts - in her opinion, not that she has ever vocalised it. She just uses it at night when she alone in her bed, that or the vision of Serena in her silk nightie. 

Bernie tries to lighten the mood, “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with T.” Serena laughs and plays along, looking all over the room for the answer. “Text book?” She replies, “Nope.” Bernie says with that cheeky under the fringe smile and a small shake of the head. Serena looks around again, appraises Bernie once more, “tank top, a double T there.” Serena appraises herself in jest, Bernie chuckles and straightens her lycra short top pulling it down a little, Serena’s eyes track the edge “nope.” Bernie nudges Serena’s foot with hers to give a clue, “ah toes.” Serena declares confidently, Bernie shakes her head with a smile, she rubs her foot up and down Serena’s socked foot making her squeal loudly, she places her hand over her mouth to cover the sound. ‘Ah Serena is ticklish’, Bernie thinks, storing it away for another time.   
Bernie moves to sit next to Serena on the floor and places her trainers between Serena’s legs, leaving her hand resting gently on her thigh. Serena looks at her, places her hand over Bernie’s and turns on her side a little to face her even more, Serena waits, waiting to see if Bernie will look at her, noticing Bernie’s breaths have become uneven and hitched. “Bernie” Serena whispers, Bernie takes a deep staggered breath in and turns her head; their noses bump and stay touching (they really need to learn more about personal space), waiting for the other one to make the next move. Who knows which one did, it doesn’t matter now as they are kissing, slow loving kisses, pull apart briefly change of position then back again. Bernie’s back is hurting after a long time in that position kissing Serena, so she pulls Serena onto her lap so she is being straddled, holding onto her hips tightly. Serena’s hands straight to Bernie’s locks, then they hear voices and stop.

“Bloody hell!” Serena breathes against Bernie’s cheeks, yes they have stopped but neither of them have moved. There is a shake of the door and Bernie traces Serena’s face with her hand, “I can’t wait until Friday when I get to take you out. Anything take your fancy?” Serena smiles places her lips to the shell of Bernie’s ear, “you!” Serena’s head falls to Bernie’s shoulder and the just sit or kneel in Serena’s case in each others arms. “I fancy you too Ms Campbell, but I meant food.” “Hmm, how about a Chinese? Quick and easy on the stomach also very filling, lots of carbs?” The door shakes once more and the handle pops off hitting Bernie on the head, causing them both to laugh loudly and move away from the door. As soon as they do, it is opened, the caretaker profusely apologising telling them that the next one will have a lock on either side, they both share a knowing smirk and thank him heading back to the children, where Hansen and Ms Shreve were still doing the PE lesson a lot longer than they should, so they can keep the children out of the way of the caretakers tools.   
A lesson learned from a previous occasion.

They bring the children back to get changed for the end of the school day, apart from those doing extra activities after school once the caretaker signals his goodbye and hands over the keys, a spare one for Bernie too as well as handing Essie one at the reception desk. Their children had not extra activities today so they headed straight home, all happy and the children laughing about the adults getting stuck in the cupboard, wondering how bored they would actually be, the ladies knowing differently. Jason however is very quiet.

It is now Thursday morning and Bernie picks Serena up as she has lots of things to bring into school today. Jason bounds out shouting, complaining that his bag isn’t packed right, Bernie looks at Serena who is trying to keep her temper in check; all she sees is Jason emptying the contents all over the backseat of the car and over Cam and Charlotte, them passing the things he needs while he is still shouting abuse at Serena who is still in the house. Bernie grabs her hand to give it a small squeeze, “I will be back in a minute ok?” Serena nods and Bernie walks back out to the car. She asks Jason to move a little so she can shut the car door, she lowers herself to his level and looks him dead in the eye with her ‘Major’s’ face on. “I don’t care if I pack your bag wrong, you pack your bag wrong or if your aunty Serena packs your bag wrong, you do not ever speak to her like that. That was incredibly rude.” He was about to protest when Cam opens the window and agrees with his mum. “If that was me Jason, my mum would have grounded me and maybe even smacked my bottom. I wouldn’t be allowed to go to Fletch’s tomorrow either.” Bernie smiled at him, used her finger to indicate to put the widow back up and waited for Jason to speak. “I am sorry Bernie.” She shakes her head and points back to the house, he walks back and stands in front of his very upset aunty and apologies, she doesn’t speak, she can’t speak so she nods, pats him on the shoulder and Bernie tells him to go back to the car which he does immediately and silently. When the front door is closed Bernie hugs Serena tightly as she cries. They know that today will be a difficult day, he doesn’t have many but when they start like this it usually carries on, maybe for days at a time.

It does, it happens today. Jason is sent out of his class by Ric for disruptive behaviour, Serena is sent for when Jason starts to shout at Mr Hansen for being unfair and not listening to him.   
There is no appeasing him today, Fletch cant even get through to him.   
Mr Hansen sends him to the nurture room and asks if Bernie can go and sit with him while they come up with some sort of plan. When Bernie does finally get to the nurture room after Miss Shreve taking over the class, she finds him kicking and throwing the small chairs and cushions all around in temper. Bernie stands to one side and allows him to do it, she can see his fingers tapping his thigh every time they are not holding something, he wouldn’t listen even if she said something to him at this precise minute. He only stops when he sees her standing with her back to the door, his hands move quicker and he crawls into a ball up a corner, just like he was at his old school. 

Bernie sat next to him and waited a few minutes before speaking to him. She is listening carefully, can hear his murmurs, its unintelligible but she can make out a few words. “Thick……….stupid…….. moron…..” When he starts to slow down she places a hand on his shoulder and says his name in a low calm manor, his rocking stops but his fingers don’t stop tapping against his leg.  
“Jason, is that what someone is calling you in class?” Jason starts to rock again saying the words over and over. Serena walks in and Bernie shakes her head, places a finger to her lips and waves her away as Serena can see Jason’s rocking start again. Serena trusts Bernie with her life so she back out and shuts the door very quietly, leaving them to it.  
“They have gone Jason, it is just you and me now.” He stops rocking and his fingers start to tap slower but his mumblings still continue. “Are they or is it one person calling you names Jason, if they are you can tell me.” Jason nods, he whispers ‘yes’ into his knees. “Who are they Jason? Who is saying these things to you?” He shakes his head, his mumbling continues. Bernie waits, she tells him she is going to straighten up the nurture room and gives him a place to lie down for a while, “I will be here with you at all times.” He crawls over to the set out beanbags and lies down instantly falling asleep. Bernie sends a quick text to Serena who has had to go back to teaching, telling her that he has fallen asleep and is being bullied. Serena responds and tells her that she will bring her a coffee at break and will speak to Hansen, Ric and Fletch to see if they know anything.

Break time comes and Serena does bring a coffee for Bernie, snacks for Jason but he is still asleep. They choose to leave him there, Serena sits next to him on the floor stroking his hair lightly, looking concerned at him. “We cant go out Friday now Bernie, I want to I really do but this will put him more on edge than before.” Bernie rubs her shoulders, “I know, It can wait until next time, whenever that will be. I am not going anywhere and neither are you I assume.” Serena smiles, tears have appeared again with worry for her nephew, he was doing so well, she worries that this is a step too far for him, but only time will tell. Break time is over so she heads back to the classroom minus Bernie, wiping her stray tears away as she heads back to her class.

Hansen is the next to visit, he and Bernie talk quietly about her discovery, he tells her not to push Jason too hard as he already has his suspicions who it may be, but if she does find out then let him know as soon as she can. He leaves her to watch over Jason once more.   
Fletch pops in. “We need to cancel Friday.” Bernie states forlornly, he rubs her upper arm. “I thought as much, I am sorry I didn’t spot this sooner, I should have been more aware of what happened yesterday and earlier, before the start of school.” Bernie smiles at him, “it was an eventful day for us all, and we know he doesn’t particularly like sports, so maybe he doesn’t do them for a few weeks?” Fletch nods in agreement, its the only time they would have had the opportunity to say snide and unkind words to him, apart from this morning on the playground before the bell rang. 

They were both determined to get to the bottom of it. Fletch leaves them after giving Bernie the chance to go to the toilet. Luckily Jason didn’t wake when she left the room briefly. It was lunchtime when he wakes up, Serena and Bernie are talking on the sofa, lunches in hand and coffee on the table. Jason grabs his lunchbox and opens it, thanking Serena for bringing it in to him. They don’t talk about what had happened. Ric brings some work for Jason that he would have missed out on stating that Fletch has gone home for the day, Bernie saying she will help him if he needs it. Jason shakes Ric’s hand and apologised for his behaviour, he hugs his aunt too and shakes Bernie’s hand thanking her for staying with him as she promised.   
He knows he shouldn’t have kicked off but was frustrated with the fact no one was listening to him, he couldn’t vocalise what he needed or wanted to say, so Bernie hands him a book.   
“It is a diary of some sorts. If you are ever upset, angry or can’t vocalise what you want to say them come in here and write it down. Keep it in your bag if you want, I will get you a proper diary when I go shopping that has a lock on so no one can see until you want us to.” Jason thinks for a few minutes flicking through the blank pages and holds a pencil in his hand. “Start by writing what happened yesterday and this morning if you want.” He nods and makes a start, the bell goes and Serena leaves them to it, explaining to Hansen on the way what Bernie has done. He smiles he knew he did right by asking Bernie to stay with him and not anyone else.   
When Jason finished writing, she asked for permission to read it, he nodded watching Bernie scowl at what he had written. She asked if she can show it to Mr Hansen but he shook his head, closing the book gently she gave it back to him. Worried that anyone else may look at it, he sat on it and made a start on the work Mr Griffin gave him to do.

At the end of the school day Jason was not allowed to partake in the after school activities so he sat in Mr Hansen’s office where he knew he would be safe. Henrik watched Jason as the completed his school work was put in order all together. Jason’s attention once again turned to the book that Bernie had gave him to write in; he was writing in it again, every now and then he would rub something out, mutter to himself and then start again. When he has finished he asked Mr Hansen if he wanted to read it.   
“Are you sure you want me to? If I see any names in here then I will have do something about the bullying.” He gives Jason time to think his answer through. “I am sure, Ms Wolfe, Bernie says its the right thing to do as it is wrong what they are saying……I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t defend myself.” Jason lifted up his trouser leg showing a bruise on his shin from where they were playing football yesterday. “He did it on purpose, he shouldn’t of lifted his foot that high, I had the ball and he didn’t go for the ball, he went for me.” Henrik nodded and told him that he would deal with it tomorrow or next week, when they are back. “Can I keep this until then Jason, this means I can contact his parents to come in later today or Friday.” Jason nodded, “Ms Wolfe is buying me a new one, one with a lock on.” Henrik walked him back to Serena and Bernie, they chatted briefly and then left as soon as Charlotte and Cam came back.   
Cam hugged Jason, asking if he was ok. Jason shrugged his shoulders and left to stand by the car waiting for them all so they could head home. Jason didn’t spot Isaac waiting by the gate; Isaac came over and starting to shove Jason around, pushing him onto the car and then onto the floor, he was just about to kick Jason when Cam pushed him over shouting for his mum and Serena. Serena dealt with Jason who was quickly going into a panicked state again on the floor while Bernie escorted Isaac to the headmasters office with Cam in tow threatening him.

Bernie spoke to Henrik after putting Cam in with Mr Griffin, asking him to watch over him and take a statement about what had just happened by the car. Isaac denied doing any of it until Mr Hansen showed him the CCTV footage of the school grounds, knowing the exact time that it happened. Essie as instructed called for his mum, who was once again late to collect him, to come into the school immediately.   
The CCTV footage, Cam’s statement, Jason’s diary and his injuries that he has seen meant one thing, that Isaac will be suspended. However this was not Henrik’s main concern, Jason was. He was still outside with his aunt trying to comfort him, Charlotte too sitting with him, reading to him the next chapter of Serena’s book. Henrik managed to get him off the floor and brought them all in to the staffroom, he waited until Jason was calm enough to speak to; giving them all juice and biscuits while they waited.   
Cam helped Ric with tidying the sports equipment away, allowing him to vent about what had happened. “you know you can’t always protect him don’t you Cam, when he goes to big school in September he will have Fletch and new friends that will hopefully look out for him. But it can and may happen again.” Cam nodded, feeling helpless. “I know, but he is my friend, my brother, so I want to look out for him like he will look out for me.” Ric smiled at the young lad, he really is caring and loving towards Jason and others in the school, always helps those that have fallen over. ‘He will make a great doctor or nurse’ Ric thinks as they head over to the staffroom.

Isaac’s mum isn’t happy about him being suspended from school for a week, not because if her son’s actions, bullying; but because she has no one to look after him and she ‘has to go to work.’ There are no apologies or words of anger regarding her son’s behaviour towards Jason, or others on previous occasions she has be made aware of.   
Henrik thinks that Isaac is doing this to get his parents attention, not that he has ever seen his father come into school. He knows he is a high flying businessman who is away for long periods of time, always having the latest expensive gadget upon his return. 

Once they have left, Henrik goes back to Jason and them all. Explaining that he is now excluded from school for a week, when he returns he will be supervised at all times and not allowed to play outside or after school until he can behave himself. Jason is appeased but is sore, Serena opting to take him to the hospital if Bernie thinks it is necessary later on. They all head home, when I say home I mean back to Bernie’s where the children are sent off to complete their homework and get changed while the adults check over Jason again. “He is ok, just bruising,” Bernie assures her. Serena gives him some paracetamol and leaves him to play with Bernie’s children. Serena sinking despairingly into the sofa, only smiling when Bernie hands her another cup of coffee, deciding between them what will be for their tea tonight and tomorrow after their plans have fell through.  
Serena and Jason stay with Bernie for the night, Jason contented to stay once again with his friend.

Friday comes and Jason is skittish about going to school but is pacified with the fact that Isaac wont be there until the following Friday. He get dressed ready for school in his usual timely fashion, sitting and waiting for the others to catch up. Bernie and Serena trying to pull themselves together after a late night discussion regarding the bullying policies at school, making a new draft policy for the school governors to approve. That and several glasses ( 2 bottles) of wine they consumed while writing it, not something they would normally do on a school night.   
They head to school and Jason is met by Fletch as they head into the gates, Jason doesn’t hesitate when Fletch asks him to help out setting up for the science lesson they had first thing. Cameron following in tow, one to make sure his friend (brother now as he sees it) is ok and the other because he is nosey and wants to know what experiment they are doing; pulling his face when he sees various vegetables and bowls stacked.  
Charlotte as always goes to find Izzy, her best friend of the week to play with on the limbing frame, now her stitches have dissolved she is allowed to go on their finally.  
Bernie and Serena head straight to their classroom to prepare for the last school day. “Serena.” Bernie asks as she is pulling the chairs from the desks onto the floor. Serena looks up from her desk and waits, Bernie is getting flustered and red in the cheeks. “If and when Jason settles again, would you like to go to the staff party with me?” Bernie knows it is a long shot as everyone that they know will be at the party, Serena stands and goes to lean on the table next to Bernie. “You know I would love to but we have no one to look after him,” Bernie nods, she knew the answer she just hoped there would be a solution. “However, if we can persuade the others, we can have the get together at my house, the children can stay at yours……..and we can go together then?” Bernie beamed a big smile at her. “That sounds perfect.” Serena squeezes her hand and heads back to her desk “I shall ask at break.” And she does, everyone thinks its a great idea, all offering to bring a plate of savoury and sweet along with a bottle or 3, Serena stating she will decorate and plan the games. So Christmas party is in 4 weeks and 1 day time, the 22nd December.


	14. The run up to Christmas.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbie is at the school. Things go a bit pear shaped.

Yes I know we haven’t left November yet but at school they need to start practicing for the school play now. The roles have been decided, the songs picked and the staging is already been designed. Bernie is currently trying to round up all of the choral singers so they can be seated ready to start the first rehearsal. The choral singers are mainly made up of year 6 children as their play is at the end of term, this is for year 3, 4 and 5. Jason however has decided that he doesn’t want to partake in the play but is happy to work on the staging, lighting etc. Cam has tried his best to get him to be an inn keeper with him but he is refusing. They are trying - the word being trying to sing, little donkey; the first song in the play. Mary, Jospeh and the Donkey are learning the song too while learning to walk as they go. Charlotte’s best friend Izzy is playing the donkey and she is hating every moment of it. So Charlotte is trying to cheer her friend up by pulling faces from across the hall, which works as she is in hysterics now honking like a dying horse (I was going to say donkey but hey ho!) This made all of the other children in the hall laugh and Bernie in return, causing Serena to playfully hit Bernie on the arm telling her she is just as bad as the kids.   
Once the children settled down again they went through the 2nd run through, this time they were a little more in tune. Serena is sitting at the piano, playing the interim music, Bernie is turning the pages with every nod of the head, but she misses one, instead she is starring at Serena. Serena’s eyes are full of excitement, she loves Christmas, she loves doing the Christmas play and fair. Thankfully for her, she has had enough practice of what she is playing, to know it off by heart. Playing all the way until the next song needs to be played. She rubs Bernie’s knee to bring her out of her own thoughts, it takes a while, Serena smiles and hands her the next sheets of music for Bernie to turn. The silent exchanged goes unnoticed by the others in the hall, mostly due to Serena’s professionalism.   
Serena enjoys being watched and being near Bernie, their feelings growing for each other each day, not that they have acknowledged them yet to one another, yes they have kissed, they have slept together - not had sex or more than cuddled, yes they have said they fancy each other but thats it, that is where it is stopped. Their date didn’t go ahead because of what had happened to Jason, but they had spent from the Thursday to the Sunday night all together, as a family.

Anyway back to the play, they are now trying to sing little drummer boy, this is Ethans role as he already plays the drums in the cub scouts. He sits with Serena so he knows when to drum, she agreeing that he can have a little solo to show off his drumming skills at the end of the song. Ethan is good until he tries to navigate around the hall while drumming, the steps and drumming in time make it difficult but Mo reassures him that he can practice using her classroom, going around the tables ensuring he will be ready for when they play is shown to the parents.

Charlotte got exactly what she wanted in the play, chief angel. She and her fellow angels had a solo, it was one of Serena’s favourite Christmas songs. ‘It was on a starry night’ it was where the angels declared to the shepherds that baby Jesus was born. The narrator (Emily) would speak declaring that the kings of the world should also visit. This lead to the next song - yes you guess it - ‘We three kings’.   
There was only one problem to this sone, Bernie knew alternative words and without thinking about it, she started to sing very out of tune and loud these alternative words making the whole school hall laugh and the eyebrow raised by Ms Campbell. The word fart was the last straw, Serena near enough dragged Bernie out of the hall to a nearby cupboard, only to fall about laughing in each others arms. They wiped the tears away and took deep breaths, looking at their surroundings both remembering the last time they were stuck in a store cupboard. Their arms were wrapped around each others waist instinctively, they just stood there and waited for the other to move, to move away back out to the hall or closer together.   
Serena looked at Bernie, one hand moving to her cheek wiping away the last tear that dropped from Bernie’s eye. “We should” Bernie whispered, Serena shook her head in disagreement and places a soft kiss upon Bernie’s lips which she responded to immediately. It didn’t last long, it was just a reminder that they were ok, that things will be discussed soon. Serena pulled apart, winked and left Bernie behind, her taking the few seconds to pull herself together once again. Thankfully the bell for lunchtime rang, sending all of the children back to their respective classrooms, she headed off out of the school for a walk.

This walk led Bernie into town, wandering aimlessly, kicking the fallen leaves, thinking about her and Serena, Christmas coming up and wether they would spend it together, the Christmas party at Serena’s, presents what would they do about presents? Bernie stopped outside a jewellers and spotted a neckless, but no, she has the one she always wears. A ring? No, too personal. She was about to carry on when she spots a perfect set of diamond earrings, yes ok they are diamonds but what else could she get apart from a bottle of the finest shiraz. These diamonds are square cut, nearly half a carot on each one, Bernie wandered inside and spotted that it came as a set, yes it had a neckless, bracelet and the earrings but it looked so like Serena would wear on a night out. That was it, she was buying a gift for Serena, for Christmas.   
The wrapped present in her hands she makes her way back to the school via the cemetery, making a mental note to take Serena again closer to Christmas while the children were still at school. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for this woman, she never felt like this before, but what exactly was she feeling towards Serena? What ever it was, it would have to wait as she found herself walking back through the gates with just enough time to hide the recent purchase away from prying eyes.

Normal lessons resumed in the afternoon, Bernie listening to the children read while Serena kept them n tract with literacy, soon followed by maths. Bernie loved maths, they were learning about fractions, she had a small group that were struggling so she left the classroom briefly and came back with a pack of biscuits and a cake (from the kitchen, thanks dinner ladies!) The biscuits were put to one side for now.   
Serena trying her best to pay attention to the rest of the class but couldn’t take her eyes of Bernie and her teaching skills.   
“I have a whole cake.” She pointed to said cake, “with this knife I am going to cut it in half, where should I cut it?…….erm…….Alfie?” Alfie uses the blunt knife and places it in the centre. Bernie smiles and lets him cut it after his correct guess. “So we have 2 halves that make a?????” “Whole” the small group shouted, Bernie gave them a high five for their correct answer. “So I need to cut it into quarters. Where do I need to cut it????? Ally?” Ally took the blunt knife and placed it in the centre of one of the cut halves and waited for Bernie to nod. She did, Ally cut one of the halves and then placed the knife down. Bernie gave her the knife and waited to see if she knew what to do next, but no movement, the wide scared eyes looked at her, “you have only cut one half into quarters, do we need to do the other?” Ally nodded and cut the second piece into half again. High fives all around.   
Serena sat there in awe of her assistant, she really knew how to make something that was difficult for some of the children to understand easier. And to use cake to visualise it too, it was genius.

“So what do we have?” Bernie asked the children. Erik raised his hand, he never normally does that so she lets him answer. “4 quarters make a whole. So that would be the 1 over the 4” Bernie ruffles his curly locks and gives him a high five, then followed by the other children too which made Erik’s day by the smile on his face. So how many are there in this group? Alfie shouted 4, Bernie nodded, how many pieces of cake do we have? Ally shouted 4, but before Bernie could say the next sentence Serena came and grabbed a piece of cake and took a bite, Bernie got up and chased her around the classroom shouting “cake thief”, making all of the class laugh and cheer. Serena only stopping when she ate half of the slice, offering the other half to Bernie, she turned to her group and asked “if we all cut the pieces again, how many would we have?” Erik was counting, he looked up and replied very quietly “8” Bernie fist pumped the air and gave him a high five, they caught on that it doubled as they continued. Bernie handed out the pieces of cake to her group and a biscuit to all of the class and asked them to wait before eating it. Serena sat back and watched the whole class do fractions with a biscuit, this time doing thirds. All ending in a cheer when it was eaten. That was it, end of the school day, the children who were doing after school activities left to go to them and the rest got their coats to leave, Bernie and Serena slumped in the reading corner, tired from their full day.

“You are really good with them Bernie, have you though about teaching, not trauma but children?” Bernie looked at her wide eyed, “What????” Serena smiled and tangled their fingers together, “Bernie, what you did there was extraordinary, I never thought of doing anything like that in all my years of teaching. I know you are doing the SENCO stuff, but think about it, teaching, will you, please for me?” Serena and her big brown eyes once again threw Bernie off her game and found herself nodding, agreeing to consider to retrain to become a teacher. Serena smiled and they enjoyed the comfortable silence between them. ‘Could I really do it, go back to uni and do a teaching degree?’ Was going through Bernie’s head, Serena just thinking how easy it was to be sitting with Bernie no matter where or when it was.   
They were soon to be brought out of their bubble by 3 children bounding through the door declaring they were all starving and needed their teas. So they all left and headed back to Bernie’s for a night of cottage pie and vegetables. Jason loved cottage pie night, he enjoyed his new found taste of veg under the encouragement of Cam and Charlotte, Serena remaining firmly silent on the matter.   
Homework done and they are now sitting in front of the tv, Serena and Bernie are making costumes for the Christmas Play, well the Kings crowns to be precise. They have a line of beads and jewels ready to be glued on by the hot glue gun, Bernie placing the glue on and Serena placing it to where it needs to go. “What are your plans for Christmas?” Bernie tries to casually throw the question out there, Serena smiles and replies, “just me and Jason, why?” Bernie takes a second to reply, trying to hold her nerves together, “Would….woul……would you and Jason like to join me and the children for Christmas?” Serena drops the crown on the table, fidgets with the tail of her shirt. “Are you sure that is ok?” She hasn’t looked up yet, not that Bernie would have seen because she is looking at her fingers on the glue gun. “The children would love it if you joined us.” Serena was worried, ‘the children would love it, but what about you Bernie?’ “I would love it if you would join us.” There it was, her question answered. “Then yes, Jason and I would love to join you, but as long as I get to help you in the kitchen.” Bernie placed the glue gun on the craft mat and held out her hand for Serena to shake. “Deal”……..”Deal”.  
They finished off the crown returning to normal run of the mill conversations, when they finished Serena and Jason headed home to get ready for bed, while Bernie packed hers off upstairs to bath and get ready too.  
The ladies as always finding themselves in the kitchen with a glass, raised before going to bed themselves.

This is how the week goes, practicing for the play in the mornings and then normal work in the afternoon, that was until the Wednesday of the following week when they had a day full of professionals coming into the school talking about their jobs. They had the firefighters, police, doctors “Raf and Derwood) there was a builder and a plumber, a councillor and the local lollipop woman who stands outside the school gate, usually with a pocket full of sweets after school.   
Serena sat quietly listening to the firefighter talk to her class, Bernie noticed she seemed off today, hardly spoke to anyone and when she did she was very standoffish. Even her hands were shaking, which got worse when Robbie the Bobby came into class after break time. Serena tried everything she could think of to not let him into her classroom, but it was a planned activity, he was to visit every class just leak the others. Serena never left Bernies side, at lunch time Robbie tried to speak to Serena alone but she was having none of it, asking him to leave loudly while Bernie was making them a coffee in the staffroom, but he wouldn’t. Instead he walked closer to Serena who was now backed onto her desk. He reached for her hand but she waved him off, begging him to leave, she looked around for her phone but it was in her bag in the cupboard. As Bernie got closer she could hear a distressed Serena trying to get Robbie to leave, as she entered the classroom Robbie tried to kiss Serena but she was pushing him away. “Serena?” Bernie declared as she placed the coffee mugs on the table in front of her and ran to Serena’s side, putting herself between Robbie and Serena. “I think you should leave, now!” Its not very often Serena heard the ‘major’ come out in Bernie but it just did, her back is straight, her shoulders are forward, her head is high looking Robbie straight in the eye. “Oh come on Serena, don’t be like that, I only want us to reacquaint ourselves again, please.” Serena tried her best to stifle the cry, but she couldn’t. “Leave please Robbie.” Bernie took a step forwards towards him and he took one back nearly falling backwards over the small chair that was untucked from under the desk. Robbie left after declaring he shall ring her later. Bernie watched him leave, as soon as the door shut she turned to Serena who was shaking, tears all over her cheeks. Bernie pulled Serena towards her and held her tight. “I will be a second ok? I’m just going to ring Hansen and we can go and talk in private ok?” Serena still crying nodded, let go of Bernie so she could call. Hansen was in her classroom before Bernie ended the call. He knew all about the previous harassment of Robbie, especially when she chose Jason over him.   
“Take her to my office, take as long as you like. I will look after the class.” Bernie nodded and took Serena the long way around the school away from the children. Once safely in Hansen’s office Serena told Bernie about Robbie, how they were going to live together, how cruel he was to Jason, the fact that Jason ‘apparently should be in a home for people with mental illness and not burdening her’ so on and so forth. Bernie was seething. He was still in the school and she could just kill him. Serena saw the anger in her friends face, she told her that it was ok and she dealt with it, but thanked her for coming to her rescue. Bernie held onto Serena tightly, ’13 ways I could kill him and do it with my bare hands.’ All was going through Bernie’s mind, but Serena needed her now. They stayed in there until the last break when they went back to the classroom. There was a brief discussion with Hansen following Robbie at all times, making sure he couldn’t go to Serena again, Fletch bringing them coffees during break so Bernie didn’t have to leave Serena’s side.  
“Serena” Fletch with his cheeky grin started, once Hansen had left. “Yes Fletch.” She retorted now being more herself. “Can I bring Raf to the Christmas party? Possibly the kids too? I have baby monitors that we can have, I don’t mind if you say no.” Bernie laughed, she could never say no to more people at her party, Serena laughed at Bernie’s laugh. “Of course they can come, I may make them a small party too then, their own food and games etc.” Fletch thanked her, “Oh and Fletch,” Bernie called him back. “You and Raf can stay over too, only be the couch and front room floor I’m afraid but the boys can stay in Cam’s room and the girls can stay in Charlottes, it is big enough and I have camp beds for them to use.” Fletch ran over and kissed them both on the cheek as a thanks before heading back out leaving the ladies bewildered at his enthusiasm.

The party is now just over 2 weeks away and Serena is already planning it down to the last dance song. “What are you wearing to the party?” Serena asks Bernie eyes shinning. “Erm I don’t know. I thought of buying something new, maybe for us all now the children are going to be having a party too.” Serena nodded, “fancy us all shopping together?” Bernie agreed hoping that Serena would help her pick a outfit that was suitable because when she had to leave her home with Marcus; she only packed things that she would need day to day, and a few sentimental items all done under a police escort. She had placed quite a few things in storage that were coming out bit by bit. The house is now sold and the divorce papers were coming through shortly, but Marcus is still trying his best not to let the divorce go through. She never spoke about this to anyone apart from the social worker and her solicitor. Serena was very much left in the dark about this, Bernie wanted to change this, Serena shared so much about her life she felt it right to do the same in return.

The rest of the afternoon went as well as can be expected, Robbie did try and sneak into see Serena at the end of the school day but was thwarted by Bernie on her way back from the toilet and then escorted off the premises by Hansen. Serena was worried that he would come around to hers so Bernie told her that she could stay with her tonight and for as long as she needed. Serena’s phone was constantly ringing, Robbie’s name flashing, no voicemails yet thankfully, they usually happen when he gets drunk.   
Bernie took Serena’s phone, when he rang again she told him to leave her alone, that if he rang again she will speak to his superior officer and have him charged with harassment and assault, when he said she has no proof, Bernie told him that all of the classrooms have CCTV and that Hansen had saved the footage.   
There was no such footage, the CCTV was only on the school grounds outside, but he didn’t need to know that. He did call once more, late at night when Bernie and Serena were sitting cuddled together on the couch after the children had gone to bed. Bernie was furious, she switched off Serena’s phone so she didn’t have to listen to him call or the messages that he left tonight. 

Its quite late now, they could hear shouting from outside, muffled shouting, Bernie and Serena realised who it was by the sound of his voice, it was Robbie banging on the front door, then the back door. Bernie ushered Serena back into the house to hide while she placed her coat and shoes on to go and confront him, leaving through her front door so he doesn’t know where she came from.   
“She isn’t at home, you have scared her so much she has left for the night and good job too because you would scare Jason too.” Robbie staggered over towards Bernie. “Bloody moron, she shouldn’t have to look after him, not even her family.” Bernie was red with anger, her fists are tightly held by her side, just waiting for him to do something. He does, he uses a brick and breaks the window in the back door and tries to get in. Bernie pulling him back away reiterating that she isn’t at home, him shouting at her stating he was going to find out for himself. There was a tussle, he pushed Bernie back, she fell onto a large piece of broken glass. The glass was sticking out so she couldn’t stop him from breaking and entering Serena’s house.   
Finding her mobile, she used it to call for the police and ambulance, she felt something digging in her back and saw the small piece of glass sticking up from her stomach, she knew it was bad.   
All she could think about was keeping Serena safe, away from this nut job of an ex boyfriend, who is currently breaking things in her house, shouting for her to come out of hiding. Bernie couldn’t even warn or tell Serena what had happened as she switched Serena’s phone off earlier. All she could do was wait for help to arrive, and it did after what felt like hours.


	15. The aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Bernie be ok?

The police took away Robbie after finding him hiding under Serena’s bed, his plan was to wait there for her to return. Bernie was losing consciousness rapidly but managed to ring Fletch while waiting for help to arrive. She needed someone to tell Serena what had happened and someone to look after the children too. Fletch kept on the phone until the paramedics arrived, after speaking to Raf they got a neighbour to look after their children so they could go to Bernie and Serena. Serena is hiding, hiding in the front room behind the door, waiting for Bernie to return. She has the now empty wine bottle in her hand as she hears the front door opening, she was just about to wield it when she stopped recognising Fletch’s London accent shouting her name. Fletch sat her down on the sofa and explained that Bernie was hurt, the paramedics were with her now and so is Raf too. Serena scrambled to get up, she was going to get the children up when Fletch sat her back down promising that Raf will take her to the hospital when he comes to them, when Bernie is on her way to the hospital. They sat and waited, when hearing a knock on the front door she quickly grabbed her coat and left with Raf, Fletch staying to look after the children.

Raf told Serena what injuries that he thought Bernie had on route to the hospital. She knew the seriousness of them, she just wanted to see for herself, wanted to know that Bernie, her friend? Was going to be ok. Raf using his pass got Serena straight to Bernie’s bedside, holding her hand until she was needed to go for the scan.   
Sitting alone she worried about the children and Jason waking to find them not there. Raf told her not to worry, that Fletch will have it all under control and she would be back before dawn. Fletch in his wisdom contacted Henrik who also came around to sit with Fletch and oversee the boarding and clearing up of Serena’s house until the home insurance could get it fixed properly. 

Raf goes to see what is taking so long, only to find an empty scan room, they had rushed Bernie into surgery after she arrested in the scanner, he ran straight to theatre to see his friend Sasha operating, using the call button to ask for an update, but nothing in reply. Sasha is trying to find the source of the bleeding. Raf waits, he is looking at the monitor that tells him everything he needs to know, her heartbeat is fast and her BP is low, if the bleed isn’t found soon she will arrest again, he offers his assistance and is welcomed, the scrub nurse ready and waiting with a gown, he asks the scrub nurse to tell Serena that Bernie has been taken to theatre and he is assisting, that he will be back with an update and Bernie as soon as he can.   
Sasha and Raf work for hours, sewing and cutting where necessary. They save the kidney, a small section of the liver is removed and the spleen is ruptured from the fall. Luckily her head is ok, no further injuries sustained from the fall to her neck and spine. If they could just get the bleeding finally under control Raf would be happier in telling Serena that her friend will be ok. They find it, there was a small knick in the aorta, a shard of glass was stopping the gush of blood but wasn’t stopping the bleeding totally, she was lucky, this could have been life ending. Once they scrubbed out, Sasha dealt with the police officers who came for an update, Raf went to speak with Serena as Bernie was taken to ITU.

Now 3am, Serena is becoming increasingly concerned as Raf had not yet returned. She contacted Fletch who told her that all was ok at home, Henrik had helped with getting her house in some what sorted and boarded, that he will stay with the children for as long as it takes. Serena tells him that Raf is in theatre with her, he had a sneaky suspicion he had. Although Raf is currently a paediatrician he had done many years in general surgery, it was only when the children were born he changed specialities. ‘Raf will look after her, I wouldn’t want anyone else by her side.’ Fletch texted back. She was just drifting off to sleep when she heard commotion outside, it was the bleeping and footsteps that alerted her that Bernie was being brought back to her, breathing tube and all. ‘There are so many wires’ she instantly thought, ‘so familiar, just like Ellie.’ Raf could see the panicked look in Serena’s eyes and told her that she is ok, it was rough but he is confident that she will make it. “Head injury?” Serena asked seeing the bandage around her head, “just a small cut, deep mind you, we had to staple it in theatre, but no internal bleed.” Serena sighed of relief, she told Raf about Ellie and he told her that it was different this time, no head injury, just all internal. 

Serena didn’t want to leave her side but under Raf’s instruction she is to go home and come back in a few hours. He will take her home and ring before taking her off the sedation, to go and look after the children and take a shower herself. She reluctantly agreed, sitting silently on the way home, trying to form what she was going to tell the children, she needed to tell them the truth but how much of the truth. Only when she was home she knew what to say.

She woke the children and brought them all onto their mothers bed, Bernie’s bed, and told them that she was attacked after she caught someone breaking in to her house. That she had to have an operation, Raf did it and that she is going to go back to the hospital after all of them are taken to school. They tried to protest but after explaining that Bernie is sleeping until the doctors says she can wake up, that they all would be better off at school so the doctors can look after Bernie and telling them that no matter what she will take them all to see her after school, they all agreed.   
The children ate some breakfast but not a lot, Serena got them all ready and spoke to Jason a little more, to make sure he would be ok at school without her there, he was ok, worried but ok. He wanted to spend the time with his diary in the nurture room, “I am sure that Fletch will sit with you, may want to sit with Cam too?” Jason nodded “And I would like Charlotte there too.” He added, “She helped me when I was hurt so I want to help her too.” Serena smiled at the bond that the children had.

Serena took the children into Henrik who was waiting for her, finding Fletch in his office too. They had a say planned out for them all, making get well soon cards and doing some school work. Jason told them that he has brought his diary and he wanted to write in that, they all agreed and that if Charlotte and Cam wanted one too, Fletch could do it for them. Serena left them in the office and went straight back to Bernie.  
In Bernie’s room, she was greeted by Sasha who told her that Bernie was stable and they will be taking her off the medication soon, she could be awake in the next few hours. Serena sat with her, talked about the children, hoping that she could hear what they were saying. The police came in again to get Serena’s statement and details of her insurance company, so they could get her back door sorted for her. Them apologising the fact that one of their fellow officers did this to her and Bernie. Serena gave them the answers and statement that they needed so she could press charges, he was also being charged with grievous bodily harm too. He was to be remanded in custody until his initial hearing at the court, they would be informed when this would be by the CPS, who would be in touch soon as well. The officers left Serena to sit with Bernie again after been given their card just incase they needed anything else.

Sasha and Raf came in to do Bernies obs handing her a fresh cup of coffee, they have prevented anyone else from entering the side room wanted to keep it quiet for when she wakes up. They notice Bernie’s eyes fluttering but say nothing, Serena is still talking about her plans for Christmas to her, the turkey, crackers etc. Holding on to her hand and waving it when she gets excited about the games that the children can play as this small party has gotten a lot bigger, investing in a marquee to put over their joined gardens, planning on taking the fence panels out that separate them for it. “Then you will never see Jason in the morning.” A small croaky voice comes from the bed. They all snap their heads to see an awake patient only having eyes for the woman in the chair next to her. Serena smiled, rose from the chair to join their lips together and then playfully hits her arm, “don’t ever do anything like that again, do you hear me?” Bernie does that shy smile that Serena love “yes Ms Campbell.” All four of them laugh at Bernie’s cheeky school girl response. “Am I in detention now?” Sasha was the one to reply as Serena has gone beetroot red again, “yes, and you are in detention for at least a week.” Bernie was about to protest when Raf explained that the drains will be in for a few days, she needed intravenous antibiotics and the she could go home once occupational therapy sign off too. Serena promising to look after her and the children in the meantime, Raf saying he and Fletch too were going to help where needed.

It was soon time for Serena to leave to fetch the children as promised, Bernie holding her hand tight before Serena could leave, waiting for the room to empty before she spoke again. “How are you?” Bernie asked her face full of concern, Serena laughed her nervous laugh, “you ask me after all that you have been through? That is my question to you.” Bernie looked at Serena for the answer, wanted to see if their feelings were the same, she is sure that they are, but knows this is another step back in the conversation that they need to have. “I am fine Bernie, now I know that you are ok, you scared me, I thought I was going to lose you.” Tears streamed down Serena’s face, Bernie tried to wipe them away but only could with one hand. “I am fine Serena, been through a lot worse, he cannot hurt you again, I am just sorry he broke into your house.” Serena grabbed gently both hands of Bernie’s “I don’t care about the house, or the things, I care about you. I……….I………I have to go, I will be back within the hour with the children.” With that Serena left Bernie wondering exactly what she was going to say. Was she going to say those words she wants to hear. Lying back a little deflated she drifted back off to sleep until the children arrived.

Charlotte was reluctant to go and see Bernie, worried to see what her mum looked like after her operation so she sat with Raf in the relatives room until she was ready. Jason and Cam walked in with their same boyish attitudes, showing the cards that they had made in school. Bernie explaining why she has a drain in and what the machines are for. The boys were fascinated, while Bernie was talking to the boys she took a few photos to show Charlotte what her mum looked like and went to show her. Raf explained why she needed the operation and what the things were for, the photos showed that Bernie looked just like her mum and she was ok. Charlotte now happy to go and see her mum again, carefully sitting on the edge of the bed. Serena stood in the doorway with tears in her eyes, the relief now evident, her feelings now clear to herself. The people that she loves most in the world apart from Ellie is in the room.  
“You should tell her you know.” The statement coming quietly from behind her in the Scottish accent she knows to be Raf’s. She wipes her face and was about to ask him what, but opted for the truth instead, “I know, but I just don’t knowhow to.” He nods, he understands. Pulling her just outside he gets her to sit on the chairs opposite the door, “You both look so like when me and Fletch got together. He was my best friend, married best friend. But then she died, I was there for him, one day we kissed, he ran off then came back one day about a week later. We went out for a drink and was honest with each other for the first time.” Serena looked at him wide eyed, “we have been together ever since, we have 4 beautiful children by a surrogate, and we haven’t been apart since.” “Is it really that simple Serena asks?” Raf shrugged his shoulders, “it can be, if you want it to be.” Serena smiled and went back into the room where Bernie and the children are talking about the rehearsals and school work, how the temporary teacher is rubbish and didn’t know what songs they were singing. “I will be back tomorrow, I will bring you all here after school, but for now we need to let your mum rest and get you all fed. How about burgers for tea?” The children agreed with enthusiasm and kissed their mother, Bernie in Jason’s case goodnight. Raf led them out to the car so Serena and Bernie could have a few minutes alone. 

They waited until the children were out of sight and then rushed to join their hands. Serena perched on the edge of the bed and stroked the tails ends of Bernie’s hair that was sticking out of the bandage behind her ear, Bernie raised herself carefully with the aid of the bed, and Serena closed the gap to share a few minutes of chaste kisses. Every now and then pulling back to look at each other, their looks conveyed everything that is yet to be said. Serena handed Bernie her phone, have this tonight and I will bring yours in tomorrow along with some clothes and wash things. Bernie smiled and gave the last kiss to Serena’s cheek in thanks. Serena gave her the passcode, not that Bernie needed it, it was Ellie’s birthday, and left a tried Bernie to get some well deserved rest.  
Before Serena got home, Bernie texted Serena on her own phone, ‘Thank you for everything Love Bernie x’.

Serena went to school for the next week, took the children to see Bernie at visiting times (almost) Raf sneaking them in early so they can spend as much time together as they can, Raf taking the children to the car so Bernie and Serena can ‘talk’ so he told the kids.   
True to his word, Bernie was allowed home a week later. One week before the school play begins and 10 days before the Christmas party at now ‘their houses’. Bernie is now up and walking as if nothing had happened, her stitches have dissolved, no signs of infection anywhere and is happy to be going home.


	16. Should be recovering at home.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bernie pays a visit to the school and makes a decision about her future.

Serena settles Bernie down on the settee before making them both a drink. She has been given the afternoon off work to fetch Bernie from the hospital, giving Bernie a chance to settle in before the children arrive home from school, Fletch offered to and is bringing the children home after their after school activities.   
Bernie though isn’t one for sitting still as the hospital found out in the latter stages of her recovery, always pushing herself so she can be back at her full potential quicker than any of them thought she should do.   
Now home, Serena threatens to sit on her if she tries to get up one more time, they both laugh into each other as the ‘teacher’ and the ‘pupil’ comes back out in them again with Bernie answering “yes Ms Campbell, whatever you say Ms Campbell”. Earning her a slap to the thigh, then Serena’s hand stays there squeezing gently. Bernie quickly places her hand over Serena’s, turns it over so they can interlink their fingers together; both looking at their entwined hands, sneaking looks at each others faces without the other knowing.  
It works, it keeps Bernie still, they are both sitting in silence until Serena’s phone pings to tell her that Bernie is due her medication. She hops up and fetches it out of Bernie’s bag along with a glass of water and a sandwich for them both. Sitting together, thighs and shoulders touching they eat in comparable but comfortable silence.

“Thank you.” Serena eventually speaks, “I never actually thanked you for what you did, protect me and Jason.” Tears forming in her eyes as she speaks, Bernie places the last of her plate and half eaten sandwich on the coffee table. “I would do anything for you Serena and for Jason.” Serena nods her head, she knew that Bernie would do anything for them both and Serena would do anything for Bernie and her children too. “But I wanted to say it, so you know I do appreciate everything you do for me, for Jason.” Bernie takes Serena’s plate and places it next to hers then wraps her hands around Serena’s jaw. Slowly, looking in each others eyes Bernie pulls Serena towards her, she joins their lips to what starts being another chaste and loving tentative kiss but ends up Serena straddling Bernie into a passionate bruising kiss that must have lasted nearly an hour because they can hear the children getting out of the car thanking Fletch for their lift home. 

This is only when they brake apart, lips swollen and red, cheeks and chests flustered, breaths uneven and panting. Serena swears she hears Bernie whisper something to her chest just seconds before the children bound through the door to their mum, to Bernie, but Serena didn’t catch what Bernie said. She wanted to ask what it was that she said but Bernie was currently having hugs from Cam and Charlotte, Jason sitting next to her giving her a handshake when they finished.  
Serena leaves to get them all some snacks and juice before they start their homework and show Bernie what their outfits are for the party, as Serena decided to do some online shopping for them all while she was still recovering in hospital. Knowing that their shopping trip wouldn’t happen now.

Bernie wanted a full on fashion show, to see their new party clothes that Serena got them, amazed that she did with the short amount of free time that she had. This was mainly done in her lunch break at school as her friend and colleague was stuck in the hospital driving the nurses crazy.  
The boys have matching white shirts, dark grey ties, waistcoats and trousers. New shoes that they can wear for school afterwards and as they are growing up, aftershave recommended by Mikey, Bernie didn’t need to inhale the smell as they must of used half the bottle on themselves, making a note to show them how to put it on for the party.   
Charlotte has a sparkly gold dress, with a headband to match, tights and black patent shoes that light up in the dark. She too has some perfume that is recommended by Evie as they have been around for tea a few times while Bernie has been in hospital, when Serena needed to do some food shopping etc. Evie offering to sit with them and Mikey offering to help, enjoying playing boardgames with the boys.   
Serena brought Evie and Mikey an outfit too as thanks as they wouldn’t accept any money for looking after the children for the short while. Evie loved her skinny jeans and a sparkly silver and black top, Mikey having similar outfit to the boys but in blue rather than grey, didn’t want it to look too much like his school uniform. They all showed them off to Bernie, who had never seen them all looking so good and told them all so. 

“What have you brought Ms Campbell?” Bernie asks cheekily, almost flirting after their long snogging session earlier. Serena shakes her head with a flirty smile in return. “Its a surprise, but please can you try yours on too, I got you one…… I hope you don’t mind…….I…..…um……. I looked at the size of your clothing to hopefully get one that fits.” Bernie sits there gobsmacked, she even went to the trouble for ordering for her too. She nods and asks for a hand up, not that she needs it, she wants the contact with Serena, they have spent too much time apart since she got hurt. Once up on her feet she pulls Serena upstairs not letting go of her hand, to try on the outfit that she brought for her while the children put their play clothes on and hang their party clothes up under strict instructions from Serena. “Creased clothes means no party.” And she means it too.

The bedroom door closed behind them Bernie stood nervously next to the bed while Serena pulls out a large black box from under it, suddenly gone very nervous, her voice shakes as she speaks. “If you don’t like it…… or to doesn’t fit………..I……. I can still return it, just please be honest.” Bernie nods and carefully unties the purple bow, takes the lid off the box, unfolds the purple tissue to find a tailored suede suit in black, a white fitted shirt and a black silk tie. Bernie lifted the jacket as if she was lifting her new born baby, first stroking over the material of it, loving the feel of the brushed shiny suede. “Its…….Wow……….it looks………..expensive!” Bernie pushes out of her now dry mouth, Serena worries that she doesn’t like it. “If you don’t like it, like I said I can return it and swap or get it swapped for you.” Bernie shakes her head, “it looks beautiful, can you help……if thats ok?” Serena nods and helps Bernie to undress and then places the suit on her. Bernie looks in the mirror, stroking down the front of her jacket, fingers each covered button in turn, her eyes meet with Serena’s as she is brushing over Bernie’s back. “Do you like it?” Bernie asks Serena who looks like a goldfish, she nods in response and asks in return, “Do you?” Bernie turns around and closes the small gap, “it is beautiful, its more than I ever imagined.” Bernie places what was supposed to be a peck on Serena’s lips but it wouldn’t have been enough, one hand at Serena’s waist and the other in her hair she kisses her passionately, Serena’s hands going under the jacket around her waist automatically; she deepens the kiss. 

“I love it Serena, I love you.” 

Serena takes a step back, stands there gobsmacked. ‘Bernie just said she loved me but in what way? A friend? Like a sister? Something more than a friend?’ Serena nods in acceptance and offers to hang the suit up ready for the party.   
Bernie stands there while Serena quickly undoes the jacket, unable to look her in the eye, Bernie waits, waits for Serena’s head to lift but she doesn’t. Once she is undressed and then redressed Serena leaves the bedroom to quickly cook their and the children’s teas.   
Bernie sits on the bed wondering what has just happened. ‘For the second time today I have told Serena I love her and nothing. No response, yet she allows me to kiss her. Well thats it, I won’t do it again, she obviously doesn’t want me to, she doesn’t feel the same.’

That evening it is once again stilted, Bernie sits on the single chair away from Serena who keeps looking at her, puzzled in why Bernie has withdrawn everything, not even looking at her now, no smiles not even at the children. Even when the children are asleep they don’t talk about it, they just sit in uncomfortable silence. Bernie heads up to bed and Serena lies on the sofa, covers herself in the throw across the back. It is the first time ever she has done it, she wants to go back home but is scared, scared of Jason’s reaction if she does and scared of being in the house alone. She knows Robbie is locked up, but the fear of being alone is far scarier than Robbie coming after her.   
Bernie is waiting, she is waiting for Serena to join her but she doesn’t. She tosses and turns, huffs and overthinks. Now wide awake she heads downstairs to see where Serena is, she awake on the sofa. “Come to bed Serena. I am sorry for what I said, lets just get some sleep and go back to how we were.” Serena looks at her, she can’t believe that Bernie wants to go back after telling her she loves her, ‘I love you too’ is being screamed in her head but not coming out of her mouth, instead she just nods and follows her back upstairs to bed a far cry from earlier.  
All night they lie next to each other feigning sleep, they sleep facing the wall rather than cuddling each other as they used to do.   
Both confused and misunderstood, not knowing how to put it right.

The early morning alarm rings and Bernie stays in her pyjamas getting the children dressed and ready for school, with Serena who is now quickly dressed before she heads downstairs. They haven’t spoken a word since the early hours of this morning, they can’t even bare to look at each other. The children keep them both occupied with getting their school bags and lunch boxes ready before Serena drives them to school; Bernie having to stay at home, not yet being allowed to go to work even if she is desperate too, however she will be attending the school play - well dress rehearsal, Serena will return at lunch so she can see it. 

Bernie is bored, she hates daytime TV. However loving a segment on This Morning about hot holiday destinations to go to if you had the chance. She has sat by her phone all morning, typing out a text only to delete it again, hoping Serena would text her instead. The only call she gets is from the police, Robbie’s court date is set for tomorrow morning; she has been asked to attend along with Serena to see if he pleads guilty or not guilty, having to give a brief statement to the lawyers beforehand. Bernie agrees but not for Serena, stating that they must contact her to confirm that she will go. Hoping that Serena would text her stating they have been in touch, but no just radio silence, in fairness Bernie doesn’t text Serena neither.

At lunch Bernie is stood outside waiting for Serena to pick her up, but she doesn’t it is Fletch instead; with a sad smile on his face. She wants to ask where Serena is but daren’t, she sighs in relief when Fletch tells her that they are having problems with some of the children costumes so Serena had to stay behind to sort it out. Fletch looks at her worriedly, “What has happened?” Bernie sighs, she looks out of the window with a tear in her eye that threatens to fall, “I told her I love her.” Fletch halts the car making her wince at the sudden pull on the seatbelt to which he instantly apologises. “I think you have both got your wires crossed. You said this last night yeah?” Bernie opens her mouth only to close it again and nods instead, he must have spoken to Serena. “She doesn’t know how to take it, as a friend, more than a friend or just said it because it was something that you say to family!” Bernie takes a few seconds to process what Fletch has said, “I am in love her Fletch,” he smiles, “I think that you may need to make it a little clearer, the sooner the better as she is currently scaring off all of the children that dare to sing out of tune.” He is serious too, Serena has shouted and made the children cry in parts due to them doing something or other wrong. Bernie nods, starts to look back through the window as Fletch starts the journey to the school again.

Bernie walks into the school and everyone greets her with a hug, all the children want to see how she is, Serena just waits in the background looking at her, longing to change whatever has happened. Bernie walks up to her and gives her a lingering hug, places her lips by her ear “can we talk?” Serena nods, “but not here and not now. Later?” Bernie takes her hand and squeezes it to acknowledge what she just said and takes her place by the piano, wanting to turn the pages of the music like she was before the accident. Serena and Bernie sit side by side, sitting so close that their arms are touching, hips are just apart, knees knocking as Serena presses the pedals. Bernie cannot tell you a single thing that happened during the play as she was too focused with the woman that she loves. Just now she has to tell her that.

The children disperse to their own classrooms to get changed back into their school uniforms, Bernie is sent to the staffroom to get a coffee but instead she heads to Ms Campbell’s classroom, where all of the children insist that she reads the next chapter before going home, she makes them tell her about the story that she has missed. She has missed all of this too, she remembers a conversation that took place on the seat, here before the accident. Serena asked her if she would consider teaching, she now feels maybe she could. Making a mental note to ring Henrik the next day and ask him if he will help.  
Serena has sat at her desk, admiring the woman who just read the children a story, explained what operation she has had, that she will be back after the half term, but intends to be here to watch and help with the play, so they all must help her if she needs it. What Serena doesn’t see is the look of admiration in return, she has held down a full time job, cared for Bernie’s children, her own nephew and always looked after her too, never once missing a visiting time, always brought in treats and fresh clothing all while never moaning unless they shared a kiss. Yes their kisses were getting more and more passionate, she didn’t mind, but did Serena?

Serena sends the children and Jason off to do some jobs in the hall, wanting to sit with Bernie alone for a while, hoping to discuss what has changed with no interruptions. There was only one problem with that, every time they begin to talk someone comes and either asks for something or needs advice on the Christmas play. Serena and Bernie gives up with ‘the talk’ as they are now calling it and head home, to another family night of homework, showers, food and sleep. Serena forgoes the wine for a second night, telling Bernie that she wont drink until she can, “so hurry up with the antibiotic will you.” They both laugh, still not able to talk in peace as the children went to bed late, all hyped up for the play, not settling until Bernie threatens them with sleeping out in the garden with no tent.

The following morning is back to normal, Bernie offers to come in but Serena makes her stay at home, “find something productive to do.” Waving at the mountain of dishes that they didn’t do last night or this morning, Bernie promises to do them and waits for them to leave before making a start. Dishes all done, she gets out her laptop and looks for courses to do her degree, she finds out that she can do the PGCE within a year maybe less, mainly school based, just one day a week at the local university. She rings them to see if she can get on the course that starts in January. They take down her information and asks of she works in a school, she confirms that she does and is about to complete her SENCO training, just 2 last assignments to do, which she intends to do this week. They take the details of the school and tells her to fill in the application form online with the details of her previous degree’s. Bernie does just that, also makes a quick phone call to Henrik who loves the idea, puts it to her that if she can complete her course by September, she can take over Mo while she is on maternity leave, but is welcome to train in the school. He tells her that he will get in contact with his contact at the uni to get the ball rolling from his end, stating that she wouldn’t have a problem starting in January, and that he needs the last of the SENCO stuff before Friday (the 2 days away).

Bernie receives a text from Serena with an angry face and ‘I hate unruly kids!’ Bernie notices that it is dinnertime and rings her, hearing her voice on the other end makes her sigh with contentment and love, Serena tells her that she wishes that Bernie did come in just to be the person who can ground her. Bernie promises to cook her favourite meal tonight, make sure the shower is child free and a large glass of red waiting if she was lucky. Serena was about to protest when she tells her that the antibiotics were finished last night and even though she wont be drinking tonight, “you definitely need it and you can have mine too.” Serena laughs. “Why Ms Wolfe, are you trying to get me drunk.” Bernie says goodbye and cuts her off but just before she does, “Yes Ms Campbell, then see who becomes naughty.” Serena knows Bernie placed a wink at the end of the sentence. Serena’s day does go better, her texts to Bernie say so, no more radio silence, yes they still haven’t talked but they will soon.   
I hope they do anyway.

Serena comes home with the kids who are delighted to have a cooked meal, roast lamb today, Serena’s favourite. Bernie managed to get to the local supermarket by taxi to get the meat and veg along with a couple bottles of red as it struck Bernie that Serena had none left, she hadn’t drank since the night of her accident. What she also picked up was Serena’s favourite chocolates and a bunch of flowers, not picking lilies as she doesn’t want them to remind her of Ellie. Bernie lets the children eat first, then packing them all off for an early night as tomorrow as the next two nights will be late ones because of the school play. Telling Serena they will eat soon, when the children are in bed, they have never done this, they usually eat all together. 

Serena sorts the children out for bed and Bernie puts the finishing touches to their meal, placing the hidden flowers on the table in a vase and sets it so they sit next to each other, one at the head of the table and the other to the right. Goes to the expense of cotton napkins, proper wine glasses but places Shloer in hers so Serena doesn’t feel as though she is drinking alone. She also manages to change her clothing into something not so relaxed, smart casual, like Serena always dresses.   
Serena gasps when she walks into the kitchen, “Bernie, what on earth is all of this?” Serena goes to the table and smells the fresh flowers and finds a card with her name in them. ‘Serena, just so you know how special you are, thank you for looking after me and the children. All my love B x’. Serena faces Bernie, she is placing the plates on the table and pulls out the chair for Serena to sit, she sits next to her, making sure that their knees closest to each other are touching. “To us.” Bernie raises her glass and waits for Serena to chink hers to Bernies “to us.” She repeats and tucks in to the meal.   
They talk about Serena’s day and Bernie listens with intent, Serena asks Bernie about hers, she nervously puts down her cutlery and wrings her hands on her lap. “I have been thinking a lot about what you asked, before the accident.” Serena tries to think back and realises what she is talking about. “Teaching?” She clarifies and Bernie nods. “I have put an application in today and spoken to Henrik who has told me that if I pass before September, I can teach at school with you, taking over Mo’s class.” Serena beams a smile, gets up and wraps her arms around Bernie who buries her face in Serena’s neck and holds on too. Serena pulls back and the looks Bernie in the eye, down to her lips, they have been here before so many times, “you said you loved me.” Serena whispers her lips an inch away from Bernie’s. Bernie nods she was about to answer when there were thundering footsteps coming down the stairs shouting for Serena. Jason was in the bathroom being sick as he and Cam had snuck fizzy sweets up to bed with them and they ate a whole big bag each. Serena rolls her eyes, pulls away from Bernie to sort out a wretching Jason out, luckily all of the sick landed in the toilet. Once he finally stopped, she ushered them back into bed, and then herself as Bernie was already in bed, nearly asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it was a long one.


	17. The Play and the Party.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last days of school and the ladies Christmas party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is very long but I couldn't split it.  
> The next one will be shorter as a result xx

The following morning Serena spoke to the boys about having late night snacks before bed and the reason why Jason was sick, they apologised and promised not to do it again unless they were told they could. Poor Charlotte was non the wiser as she slept through it all, but teased the boys as she still had her sweets for later. Bernie meanwhile, still in her pyjamas, was downstairs preparing all of their breakfasts, toast for Serena and herself and cereal for the children; she also managed to get all of their lunchboxes filled too, placing a special surprise in for Serena to find at the bottom of her cool bag.   
The early morning passed in a flurry and they were soon saying goodbye to Bernie as they left for school, Serena holding back and waited until everyone was in the car before walking up to Bernie and giving her a quick passionate kiss that made Bernie holding on to the counter top when she left, completely gobsmacked. Thinking now that Serena may just too feel the same way.

On the way to the school Serena tried to speak to the children, albeit awkwardly, for someone so eloquent with her words suddenly became like a stuttering Granville from Open All Hours.  
“Chilled……Ch………children……….I….erm….I………” Charlotte burst out laughing, she has a similar honk to her mum that makes everyone else around her laugh too. Charlotte looked at Serena, “you ok Ms Campbell? You have gone a funny shade of red……..maybe you need to go home if you are well.” Jason too commented on how flushed she had gone, “that post box red does not look good on you, even if you haven’t been shouting at us or the children in the school.” Which evidently made things worse as she stuttered to even tell them she was fine. Calming herself down she pulled into the school carpark and asked them to wait, Jason was about to moan about being late when her stare made him think twice - unusual for him. “How would you feel” takes another deep breath “if your mum” turns to look at Jason “Bernie and I start dating, go out and see each other.” Jason contorts his face to think about what she has just said, Charlotte opens the door and says its fine and about time too.   
Cam didn’t care as long as they would still be the way they are now, he declares just before getting out of the car, “yes I did know you have been kissing, even if we aren’t around, the red faces and pouty lips gives it away Serena. Really!” With that he flew out of the car with his football under his arm to meet his friends.   
Jason is still sitting there, he looks at his aunty “I think you have been seeing each other since I first slept at Bernies house. So it wont change anything really would it. Because I don’t like too many changes.” Serena smiled “no it wont change anything Jason.” With that he too gets out of the car and walks to the school library where he has agreed to meet Fletch before the school day begins.   
Serena sits in the car with a perfect smile on her face, she cannot believe that the children don’t mind and already knew before she did that they were already in some sort of relationship. “Now I just need to speak to Bernie herself.” She mutters as she gets out of the car, “Talk to Bernie, Ms Wolfe about what?” Ric says making her jump. “Louder shoes please Ric, and I was talking about the Christmas party, I have another idea thats all.” Ric sees the flush appear on his friends face and suspects that she isn’t quite telling him the truth but he lets it lie for now anyway. He walks her to her classroom with general chit chat about going to church service tomorrow morning and what is needed for the play tonight, he asks after Bernie and her flustered reply is that she is on the mend and “will be coming to church tomorrow and then hopefully I can kick her home, but I suspect she will want to be here for the children Christmas party”. He nods, to knowing that she will never go home when a party and food is around. They say their goodbyes and he heads to his own classroom. Serena places her cool bag and handbag in the store room and gets things ready for this morning, the last teaching day of the term. Tomorrow is filled with fun activities for the children, Fletch and herself have made a plan that if Jason cannot cope with the party then he can do some work in the future room, but he has said he will try and be ok at the party.

The morning passes quickly, Bernie attends the court hearing and watches Robbie declare not guilty in the dock to her disgust. The trial date to be set in the new year. He is allowed out on bail with strict instructions to stay away from Bernie and Serena’s home addresses and places of employment.  
Meanwhile back at the school, the children head out for their lunch and Serena takes her usual seat in the reading corner, pulling out her phone to ring Bernie. “Hello you.” Bernie answers almost straight away, “hows the little darlings today.” Serena giggles as their word ‘darlings’ means ‘little shits’ when others are around or in earshot of them. “They are all actually well behaved, tomorrow will be a different story, a bunch of over excited and tired children in a church, is not what I look forward to.” Bernie chuckles, “I will be there to lend a hand, but I hope you will save a dance for me………they are having a disco aren’t they?” Serena smiles, remembering the last time they danced, how she felt being close to Bernie, Bernie coughed to bring her back to the real world “sorry no darling” darling where had that come from? “no disco, just games and food.” Bernie sighed, “then we shall dance at our party Ms Campbell, just no jive ok?” Serena’s eyes rolled back and Bernie knew she was doing it. “Put your eyes back Ms Campbell, but I mean it, I want a dance with you.” Serena puffed out a breath, knowing she had been caught out, “yes Ms Wolfe, I shall put you at the top of my list and I will try and make it a slow one.” They said their goodbyes and she gets her lunch out of the cool bag, Serena smiled at the lunch box, full of her favourite fillings, wondered where Bernie managed to get them from, then remembered she went shopping yesterday, making a mental note to thank her. She reached in for her crisps and spotted another of her favourites, love heart sweets. Written on them with permanent marker ‘I’ then the love hearts logo followed by ‘U’. Serena picked up her phone took a picture of the love hearts with Bernie’s added extra letters and sent it back ‘me too’ covered in red hearts. Serena opened the packet carefully and emptied its contents only to fill it with plastic one pennies so the wrapper held its shape, she placed it in her top long drawer for safe keeping. The smile never came from her face all day, even when the set of the play fell because of over excited children play fighting in the hall after final play, she just shooed them on their way and told them she will sort it. Both children not expecting that response.

Serena and the children headed back home, Bernie was already dressed in her tinselled Santa’s hat, xmas jumper and red skinny jeans and black knee high heeled boots, all ready for the play tonight. There is a selection of home made pizzas on the table as they soon had to be back at school. She had laid out the children clothes ready for them to have a quick wash and put on, once they did that they could watch t.v until they were ready to leave. Serena told Bernie she too will be getting dressed, with a flick to the head she invited Bernie up with her. Bernie follows taking in the full view of Serena’s curvy hips as she now doesn’t feel guilty for perving over her. She is sure that Serena is swaying them a little more than usual, she leaves her hand lingering behind her, offering Bernie to take and she does, Serena leads them into the bedroom and closes the door, leans back on it and stares at a nervous Bernie.   
“I have spoken to the children about us……….They know, they don’t mind.” Serena says when their eyes meet, Bernie takes three long strides and kisses Serena, pressing her to the door. Serena pulls her in closer, hands gripping tightly at Bernie’s hips, both battling for control, hands freely roaming over the others, only stopping when Jason knocks on the door telling them that “if we don’t leave in the next 5 minutes we will be late and if you stop kissing we will get there on time.” Serena lowers her head to Bernie’s shoulder not letting her go too far just yet, Bernie telling Jason that they will be down shortly and everyone to get in the car. “Okay” he says as thumping his feet down the stairs, shouting to Charlotte and Cam “they are kissing again and we need to get in the car.” Bernie grabs Serena’s hands and pulls her to the bedside, Serena starts to undress while Bernie takes out the clothes for her under instruction, now having a wide selection of them at Bernie’s due to recent events only of course.

True to her word they were downstairs, dressed and in the car before the 10 minutes timescale that Jason gave them and they were off to school for the play. They all arrived at school with minutes to spare, Bernie and Serena smiling walking as close to each other as possible but repeating the boundaries they have at work; Fletch giving them a knowing smile that all is ok. Ric looking from afar wondering what, if anything has changed between them. Mo and Jac coming over to say their hello’s and confirming the order of the children that will enter at different stages. Bernie starts to set out the music on the piano when she spots Henrik, she walks over and hands him the last bit of coursework for her SENCO course, he looks over and tells her that he has confirmed with the university that she will start next term and she is on the fast track course which means she will be finished before the school year ends; that she will be training here at the school too, with a handshake and congratulations he leaves her to finish the music off.   
“What did he want?” Serena asked with her hand at the small of Bernie’s back, “I have a place at Uni, start in January.” Serena hugs her a little too tightly that makes Bernie wince, “oh, gentle there.” Serena apologises and Bernie pulls her back, “too public to be rough Ms Campbell.” Serena coughs and nods, share a knowing glance before they pull apart, all of this with Ric and Fletch watching together in the dark shadows. “About time.” Ric says to Fletch who silently nods in agreement.

The play went without a hitch, the children sang and played beautifully, all lines read out clear and Jason did a fantastic job on the lighting along with Fletch. Serena handed out sweets to all the children to say thank you, saying they could all eat them now before their parents picked them up, Bernie too stealing one with her cheeky smile, “I did well too, don’t you think?” Serna playfully swatted her arm and nodded with a wink. After a minor fiasco of missing trousers the children were all headed home, leaving all of the teachers in the staffroom sighing, “thank god thats over until next year.” Mo said rubbing her baby bump that is just nicely starting to show. Jac retorted with a shove “you wont be here next year some other daft locum no use if a teacher will be.” Henrik stands and announces “Bernie will be the new teacher that will take over from Mo while on Maternity leave, as long as she passes her PGCE course that she is about to start in the new year.” They all congratulate her, Serena sitting there smug already knowing this, it was her idea after all, “I promise to help you as much as I can, with the children and with the workload that will be thrown your way.” Bernie smiles, they were just about to kiss when they both realised where they were. “On that note Ms Wolfe, I had better get you home, we have another busy day tomorrow and Oh Henrik, can you please tell her she can’t stay for the whole day.” Henrik does that tight lipped smile and shakes his head “even I know when to submit to an already losing battle Ms Campbell, she can stay but,” he waggles his finger at Bernie “no playing games.” Bernie nods and smiles, hooks her hand in Serena’s elbow and goes to find the children who are in the hall, Charlotte trying to play the piano, she wants to be like Ms Campbell she tells them both as they enter the hall. Serena smiles, stands still and Bernie sees a tear suddenly appear, she turns so Serena is facing away from the children and asks if she is ok. Serena nods, “I see Charlotte and I remember Ellie doing those things, loving the Christmas plays and singing. She would have loved all of this and you all I am sure.” Bernie wipes the tear away with the pad of her thumb and pulls Serena closer, “tomorrow after the church service, shall we put flowers on Ellie’s grave, I am sure the others can cope with the short walk back without us?” Serena smiles and nods, they head back to the car, children singing the carols again and Bernie silently comforting Serena. On the way back home Bernie arranges with Henrik and Morven that they will walk back with the children. When they are home she orders flowers online to be sent to the church in her name at 9am, before the school descends on it.  
Bernie sorts out the children ready for bed, making sure that there are no more hidden sweets anywhere in the boys bedroom as it is now called and heads downstairs to Serena drinking a glass of shiraz and waiting to find out what Bernie wants, she takes a sip of Serena’s that makes her gasp in jest but then brings her in for a kiss, a slow languorous kiss that leads to them going to bed hand in hand, sleeping entwined.   
Tomorrow is a full day, and then the Christmas party at their houses the following day. They both sleep happily in each others arms, where they belong.

Its non uniform day and the children get dressed in their Christmas jumpers and hats, reindeer antlers for Charlotte. Breakfast is a quick affair rushing after getting up slightly later than usual as Bernie and Serena pressed the snooze button one too many times, enjoying just being together in bed, arms wrapped around each other, making the most of the quietness of the day, knowing that it wont be for much longer.   
Now the adults are dressed, the kids open the door to find it snowing, Bernie smiles and stands out and swirls around in it, she missed all the times it snowed when she was on active duty in the dessert somewhere, so is enjoying each flake hit her face. Serena smiles at her, she hates the snow but loves Bernie’s reaction to it, insisting that they go out and buy sledges for them all if it continues. The children cheer and Serena hopes and prays she doesn’t get her one.

It takes longer to get to school because of the weather but they arrive on time. Serena watches as the delivery of food is brought in by the delivery driver, Henrik insists that the school PTA will pay for the party and they gladly do. There are a lot of children playing in the playground, making the most of the snowy weather, not enough yet to make snowballs and Serena is thankful for that. Bernie waits for Serena to catch up before heading to their classroom, Bernie looks around and then suddenly starts to panic, wondering if she can do this, become a teacher, do the training and be there for her family, her new family with Serena in it; yes she said she would help and she will, but can she actually do this. Serena can read Bernie like an open book now, she sits her purposely on her chair at her desk and rests her bottom on the edge of her desk. “This morning, I will let you take the lead, do the register, get them ready for the church service and make sure they have their song sheets, I will be your assistant. You can do this Bernie, I am here all the way with you.” Bernie looks up at her with her big brown eyes, takes peace in knowing that Serena thinks she can do this, suggested it in the first place and wont let her fall, she nods and gets the register out ready. The bell goes and Bernie stands, takes a deep breath, she straightens her back and shakes her arms to collect herself, after a few seconds she leaves to collect the children who were playing outside and telling the children who are in the hallway to wait for her to come back before entering.  
The taking of the register went without a hitch, she leaves it on the desk for when Henrik and Morven brings them back after the church service; she hands out the song sheets thinking that Serena could have done that but is happily watching her take charge. She tells them to pick a partner and stand by the door with their coats fastened, and heads to the church all without incident.

Church service done and dusted with no child misbehaving from her class anyway, she escorts them to the Headmaster and Morven who are waiting outside. They stand together and watch them leave, “thank you for this morning” Bernie says quietly, Serena pats her hand and goes to walk to Ellie’s grave but Bernie stops her by gently pulling on her hand. Serena waits as she goes to the presbytery and grabs the ordered flowers, again Serena is amazed that she has done this without her knowing, a bouquet of lilies, roses, holly and berries. Serena wipes the flowing tears from her face and holds out her hand, Bernie giving her the bouquet that she takes but Serena offers her other hand to hold; she grips it tightly as they wander down the path to her daughters graveside to lay the flowers. Bernie had managed to already sneak out of the church briefly to take away the dead ones left from before and tidying it from the rubbish blown around. Serena lays the bouquet and stands silently with Bernie, holding onto her by Bernie’s waist, her head on Bernie’s shoulder. She whispers goodbye and love you then they leave. Silently walking back towards the school, Serena stops at the arched entrance of the church gates and looks back to Ellie’s grave, turns to look at Bernie and smiles. “Thank you.” Bernie nods and goes to leave but Serena stops her, places a lingering kiss to her lips and stokes her face. “Thank you.”

The school party was indeed to much for Jason but he was happy doing science in the nurture room with Fletch. They decided to make boxes for boiled eggs to go in, see which one saves the egg from cracking. They have been learning about gravity and how things fall to the ground. Fletch gets out an arrangement of things and helps Jason to make the various boxes, saying they will test them when they come back in January.  
Games and activities are happening in the school hall, Jason only joining them when the food is open, and they are all sitting on the floor eating their selected snacks, well Jason at a table with Cam. They even have a teachers game which Bernie sulks at not being able to play so declared herself as referee, Jac wins after nearly launching Fletch off the last chair, declared winner of musical chairs and graciously receives her winner sticker from Bernie.   
Jason manages to participate in his class game of pass the parcel, thinking it was ace he got a sweet as he unravelled his sheet of paper. Henry wins that game, he likes Henry and gives him a high five and a congratulations before heading back to the nurture room.  
Bernie and Serena watch the games and tidy up the plates and cups left behind, after moving all of the leftover food to another section of the hall, Dom has another idea for a game. He has set up the lights to ‘party mode’ and has a best dancer competition. He tells all of the children and teachers that there are 4 prizes, 2 for the teachers and 2 for the children so all stand up and boogey. Serena tries to leave but Bernie pulls her onto the ‘dance floor’ and dances with her and the children, doing the ‘catch ya slide’. The children and staff were peeled off one by one as another song came on, the ‘time warp’. The kids loved this as the teachers were showing them the moves, more teachers and children sent to the side and the final dance was declared. Bernie laughed as she heard the birdie song being played, they all tried to remember the moves, dancing around like headless chickens. She and Serena were declared the winners, Adam and Helena were the children winners, Dom promising their prize after the children have left with a wink. The children receiving selection boxes as prizes.  
That was that, the end of the school term. The children headed home, the staff cleared up and followed them shortly after as their party was going to be tomorrow.

The following morning Serena and Bernie were up bright and early allowing the children to wake up when they wanted. Serena realised that she actually hasn’t been back to the house since Robbie had been there, expressing her concern to Bernie who offers to take a look around 1st. Serena is grateful, when Bernie comes back and explains the damage done, Serena cries in Bernie’s arms. “Lets have the party here and in our gardens as planned. They are coming to set up the gazebo soon, lets move the fence panels ready to behind your shed.” Serena nodded and was grateful to the suggestion, texting their friends with the change of address. It was lucky that the snow didn’t stay and didn’t make the garden too slushy. Fence panels now stored away and plant pots moved all just in time as they were here to put up the gazebo. The gazebo managing to fit down the narrow lane to their back gardens. “We brought heaters too, no extra charge and wooden panels for the floor.” Bernie thanked them and left to make them all a hot drink.  
Serena stood next to her as the kettle boiled, she slipped her arm around Bernie’s waist as if it was the simplest thing in the world to do and it was really, so natural. Bernie leaned against her as she poured the water into the mugs. They heard the footsteps from above, one of them was awake at least. Hearing the toilet flush the footsteps went back along the landing and then once again silence, “must of gone back to bed.” Serena nodded and took the cups to give to the workmen, smiling back at Bernie before she crosses over the threshold into the garden, Bernie standing in the doorway to hand the others out for Serena to give to them.  
Back in the kitchen they start the prep of the food, chicken drumsticks in the oven first then home made sausage rolls. Serena pulls out the quiche from the freezer and makes the children jellies. There is a knock at the front door, a delivery of assorted alcoholic drinks from Henrik, they sign the invoice and notice a message, “For tonight and with thanks. HH”. Serena and Bernie look at all the drinks, “I think he catered with your intake in mind.” Bernie cheekily says which earns her a smack to the backside, they take the drinks in at place them just by the backdoor ready for when the gazebo is set up. 

This time there are several pairs of feet walking down the landing, all three of them come down ready to eat their breakfasts as they were all starving, smelling the chicken in the oven confused Jason slightly as they explained it was for tonight. “Mum,” Cameron asks, Bernie turns to look at him “instead of party food like that, can we all have pizza’s then if we want anymore we can pick what we want?” Serena looked at Bernie who looked at her, they both turned to Cam and nodded, all three of them fist pumped the air. Serena telling them that she will contact Fletch and Raf to see what the others liked too.  
The children enjoyed helping decorate all the rooms and the gazebo, unbeknown to them it comes with decorations, Cam loving the fact the workmen allow him to climb the ladder to hang the garlands, Charlotte too loving putting the light up angel at the top of the tree while Jason enjoying putting the fairy lights all around.   
Dom calls and brings his amp along with computer all ready with songs to be played, a mixture of Christmas songs and cheesy dance songs, he stays and helps set out the tables and booze, eyeing up what is on offer and sneaking a bit of food or three, the children laughing and hiding him as he has food for them too. Once all of the heavy lifting is done he heads back home to get ready for the night ahead, kissing Serena and Bernie on the cheek.  
“Oh one last thing ladies, your prize, I couldn’t give it to you yesterday as well, children were around.” He held out the envelope and promptly left, Serena opened it up to find a spa day for 2 and a note from Fletch and Raf. You book it and we will have the children. A small token of thanks for tonight from us all at school.” Bernie looked at Serena “I knew they were all up to something yesterday, but god do I love them all.” Bernie laughed and said they would plan their spa day in the new year when she has an idea of what this course entails. Serena agrees and starts to dish up the desserts for tonight.

Children all showered and changed into their party clothes, along with a nice amount of aftershave on for the boys, and a touch of makeup thanks to Serena for Charlotte they were ready; Serena sent Bernie off to get dressed now and she will be ready afterwards. The children play downstairs while Serena takes the last of the food out of the oven, nervously waiting for Bernie to come downstairs. She knows what Bernie would look like, but never seen her with her hair done up in a plait or any makeup on, as Bernie promises to make an extra effort tonight. Serena is also nervous of Bernie’s reaction to her dress, would she like it? Is it too low cut or short? She just wanted to make Bernie’s jaw drop open like she was when Bernie first put the outfit on or stood there virtually naked in her store cupboard.  
Serena is brought out of her thoughts by Cam, “Serena mum is shouting you from upstairs.” Serena nods, places the tea towel on the side and heads upstairs. Bernie is in Charlottes bedroom hiding, “bedroom is free.” Serena goes to open Charlottes door but Bernie stops her. “Not seeing me until you are dressed and ready to be my date for the party.” Serena flushed red at the words ‘my date’. She quickly got into the bathroom for a quick shower, Bernie was still sitting on Charlottes bed when she hears Serena get out of the bathroom to their bedroom as she now thinks of it. “Im still in here, knock on when you’re done.” “will do,” Serena responds and quickly gets dressed for the party.   
Serena takes her time to do her hair perfectly thinking about the fact she should get it cut before they go back to school, applies her makeup to suit the colour of her dress, luscious red lipstick that she hopes wont be on at the end of the night and not talking about it being left on her wine glass neither. A spritz of perfume before putting on her off the shoulder Christmas red dress that comes to just below the knee, not quite tea length. Then her favourite shoes that Bernie got when she entered the house this morning, under strict instructions not to look at them. These Jimmy Choo shoes were sparkly red and very high, hoping that she can be at the same height as Bernie in hers, not knowing what footwear Bernie has chosen for tonight.

Serena opens the bedroom door very slightly and tells Bernie she is ready. Bernie opens Charlottes bedroom door and makes her way back to their bedroom, she makes it as far as opening the door then stops dead in her tracks. Serena is like a goddess in red, seducing her just by her body alone. Serena sees the look in Bernie’s eyes and she goes from nervous to confident, she walks over to Bernie and passes her to get to the door, she presses her front to Bernie’s back as she pushes her further into the room and closes the door. Bernie turns and traces over her body with her fingers and eyes, until they reach Serena’s hands. “I have something for you.” Bernie says while looking deep in Serena’s eyes, inhaling the floral scent of Serena’s perfume. Serena waits her nerves kicking in again, Bernie reaches inside her jacket pocket and pulls out what was going to be Serena’s Christmas present but now seems the more perfect moment. Serena carefully unwraps it and gasps at the set, she carefully reaches the neckless out and hands it to Bernie to put around her neck and the bracelet on her wrist as she puts the earrings in herself. Carefully she places a lingering kiss as thanks to Bernie’s lips, not ready yet to lose her lipstick.   
Hand in hand they head downstairs ready for their guests.

Dom, Morven and Arthur arrive first. They head straight over to the music and get it started, Dom putting songs on that the children wants first. Bernie gets them all a drink while Serena does the small talk, but not about work. Arthur and Morven as suspected are seeing each other, Dom has broken up with Isaac and Bernie is very happy to hear about this, threatening to go after him herself if he continues to harass Dom. Morven is bursting with Christmas cheer, hanging up bits of mistletoe everywhere, Bernie making a mental note that when everyone has gone or gone to bed, she stands underneath and kisses Serena.   
Charlotte asks Morven what she is hanging and when she explains she pulls Bernie under it and asks for a kiss, calling Cam over and then to everyones surprise Serena, who playfully pulls her face and kisses her over exaggeratedly that makes them all laugh; Bernie surprised face says it all and Dom has captured it all on camera. Bernie quickly retreats to the kitchen, she doesn’t come out for a while, Serena actually has to go in search for her, she sees her sitting at the kitchen table with a worried look on her face.   
“Penny for them.” Serena asks as she sits next to her and places a hand on her thigh, Bernie looks at her, covers Serena’s hands with hers and squeezes “you took me by surprise thats all, I didn’t think you would kiss me that way.” Serena now confused and tries to pull her hand back but Bernie keeps if there, looks into her eyes frightened. “What way Bernie?” She lowers her head to gather her words, “on the lips in front of our friends, I didn’t mind, I enjoyed in fact, but I wanted to kiss you like this.” Bernie pulls Serena forward by her chin and kisses her chastely only to be interrupted by the doorbell. Raf, Fletch and the children arrive, travel cots and all; they head upstairs to put them up ready for when the little ones go to bed, Raf is hoping sooner rather than later.   
Henrik arrives next with Jac and then Mo and Derwood, he finished slightly late at the hospital with a rather rushed delivery. With everyone there Serena and Bernie uncover the food and wait for the ordered the pizzas to arrive, which they did right on time. The kids head into the living room having made a space for them all to play games and eat, having their own jugs of juice and pop so they can help themselves. Raf and Fletches two youngest are put to bed and the baby monitors are on just incase.

Dancing starts and Serena dances with Morven and Mo while Bernie opens the door to find Ric and his latest squeeze apologising for his late arrival and bringing a guest without asking, Bernie says “its no problem but watch out for Serena who no doubt will tease a little”. Ric laughs, “yes no doubt she will.” Beer and wine in hand they head out to the now rather warm gazebo. Bernie stands and watches Serena dance.  
Bernie has Ric to one side of her and Fletch to the other all following her eye line. “About time I think.” Ric says, Bernie snaps her head towards him and looks at him like a dead kipper. “What, you know?” Ric laughs, “she said a long time ago that she likes you, and I have seen the way you look at her, as if she is your world.” Bernie sighs, flushes and admits the truth, “she is my world Ric, I love her.” Fletch nudges her “Did you clarify things then.” Bernie smiles and nods “good, I am glad you did, now go and dance with her.” Fletch practically flings her off the wall towards Serena. Serena pulls her hand so they dance arm in arm, Dom strategically changing the song to a slow dance. Morven dances with Arthur, Mo with Derwood, Ric and Michelle, Jac dances with Henrik which makes everyone smirk and Jac gives the general death stare to them all and Dom watches and takes a few more photo’s.

It is rather late and the children are all tired, they have played their games and want to head to bed, Evie too which surprises Fletch, normally she puts up a fight to go to bed. She kisses her dads goodnight and promises to look after the young ones. Raf and Fletch come down to see them all slow dancing so go to join in, they speak in code about Bernie and Serena, about how good they are together and finally doing something about it, Fletch told him what Bernie said and he smiled, “The major losing her good old British reserve, that is good to see.” As they drifted under the mistletoe Dom shouted at them to kiss, they did, he captured a photo of them too for his Christmas Party collection, promising to share them all as soon as the night is over.

Bernie set up a game of beer pong, to which she was an expert at it, managing to get the ping pong ball in a beer every time, Serena couldn’t get one in until Bernie cheekily changed the glass to shiraz instead of beer, she could do it then. Morven got one in, Arthur non, Raf and Fletch got a few in, Henrik didn’t partake but Jac, Jac was as good as Bernie. They had a competition of their own, bouncing the ball one by one, not drinking though in between. It took 24 goes before Bernie was declared the winner as Jac missed her last shot, as a forfeit having to down the beers one after another, luckily they were the small plastic cups and only 6 of them and were half filled by the time they finished the game.   
Next was put the sock on the Santa. There was a A3 size picture of Santa naked, they were all blindfolded and had to put the sock on Santa, not on his foot of course on his willy. Jac got no where near, she put it in the fireplace stating she got it completely right. Moven placed it on his nose and said its for when it gets cold, Serena shouted out his willy will go inwards if it gets cold in the North Pole making everyone laugh. Fletch puts it on his foot, Raf puts it on his arse, Serena gets it perfect and all cheer, Bernie doesn’t even get it on the sheet, and Dom too gets it perfect. So Dom and Serena go against each other with various other clothing items, Dom wins when he puts his boot on Santa’s foot, Serena too placing it on his willy. “Well a sock and a boot will stop it from shrinking.” Even Henrik found that comment funny and he smirked.

They carried on dancing, only when Mo and Derwood said they had to leave, it was just passed midnight after all, the others decided to go. Fletch and Raf helped to tidy up, and bring it all the leftover food back into the kitchen or in the bin, using Serena’s once hers got full. There wasn’t much left over and what was could be used tomorrow for dinner, whenever they all woke up. Bernie got the spare blankets and pillows for Raf and Fletch as they settled on the floor and said goodnight. Serena and Bernie headed upstairs to bed. As soon as the bedroom door closed, Serena pounced on Bernie making them fall onto the bed, falling on Bernie’s scar from the recent surgery. Serena pulled herself off and hurried into the bathroom nearly in tears. Bernie got undressed for bed and lay under the sheets just in her underwear, a first for her; she wanted to show Serena she was truly ok. Serena after a while came back in and switched off the main light, Bernie put on the bedside light on and patted the bed showing the top half of her body as she sat on the bed. “Serena look at me,” she doesn’t so Bernie reaches up and over, lifts her chin so they can look in each others eyes. “Serena I am ok, the wound is good and I want you to get undressed and come to bed, I would like to see what is beneath this beautiful dress. Serena got up and turned her back to Bernie, thinking that she shouldn’t do it, its one step too far.   
Bernie rises to her knees and pulls the zip down, noticing that Serena isn’t wearing a bra, but is wearing a stunning silk thong edged in black lace. Bernie runs her fingers over the edge and Serena stills her hands, “Serena, if you want to get dressed in pyjamas thats fine, we can, if you want to lie with me naked, thats time too.” Serena helps Bernie to lowers her thong and then slowly turns to face Bernie, Bernie’s eyes says it all, she shuffles back and undoes her own bra and then slides her knickers off, lies down to wait for Serena. Serena slides down the bed close to Bernie but their bodies not touching. Bernie turns off the bedside lamp and scoots closer to Serena and wraps her arms around then gently holds onto her waist. “This ok?” Serena shakes her head, Bernie lets go but Serena kisses her and presses the length of her body to Bernie’s, “now it is.” They drift to sleep, as always in each others arms but never before naked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They are getting there xx


	18. Support and Love.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Serena needs to see what distraction Robbie has left in her home.

They all woke up late Sunday morning, not even the Fletch’s youngest cried to get up out of their travel cots, they were playing happily with the toys. Bernie woke up first, feeling warm and settled, she has not had this feeling like this in a long time, having the woman that she loves wrapped around her, both of her children happy and nearly having a new brother in respect of Jason; new friends both in and out of work, whose families enjoy spending time together and growing as Mo will have hers within 6 months. Looking forward to the future, a future filled with love and support, hoping that she too can do the same for Serena.   
Serena stirs and holds on to Bernie tighter, her thigh getting increasingly higher up Bernie’s body, Bernie moans and Serena goes to pull away but Bernie holds her in place with one hand at the knee on that rests on her stomach, the other around Serena’s waist and reassures her with a kiss. “Good morning,” Serena says lingering her lips to Bernie’s as she pushes Bernie into the mattress sliding her body on top, Bernie continuing their kissing more passionately, hands going to Serena’s hips and Serena’s into her hair.   
Jason interrupts as he knocks on the door asking if he can go downstairs as they have guests sleeping in the living room. Bernie tells him that he can go, but if they are still asleep, then to put the tv on a low volume; he heads downstairs to find Fletch and Raf awake watching the children programme that he likes the most, Horrible Histories, so he joins them on the sofa.  
Bernie and Serena unravel themselves, deciding that they can continue this when they have no extra guests in the house; with that they get dressed and head downstairs. Fletch, Raf and Jason are talking about the Roman times, discussing that the warriors wouldn’t be fighting with swords like seen on tv programmes as the swords were too heavy for it. Fletch saying that there is a demonstration at their local museum in the new year, Jason practically begs for them to go, Serena saying that they will see as they have to get Christmas and new year over with first. Jason a little disappointed but could see where his aunty was coming from, grateful that she didn’t commit if he may not be able to go. However did intend to find out the details just incase he can.

Cam, and Mikey came down next after being woken up by the chuckling girls, Mikey having Theo in his arms who was babbling on about something, smiling as they enter the living room happy to see his dads, Raf taking him from and thanking Mikey and Cam for looking after him.   
They all made their way to the kitchen table to have their breakfasts. Bernie warming through some croissants and pan au chocolates, making some toast and laying cereal out so they could take what they wanted while Serena shouted the girls down. Ella is wide awake too, Raf had her bottle already warming as soon as they boys said they were awake, knowing that if Ella isn’t fed straight away no one would eat in peace, more like eat with ear defenders on. Bernie fed Ella telling Raf to tuck in and eat in peace for once, she would grab hers afterwards; just leave her a croissant with some nutella that the kids were enjoying a generous portion of, on their toast.   
Fletch asked what they were doing today; saying he and Raf were both off and are planning on going to the park.   
Serena told them that she needed to go into the house, to see what damage had been done for herself, explaining that Bernie went in yesterday and she has explained what mess Robbie had done; that she couldn’t face it hence why the venue changed last minute. Raf and Fletch offered to take all of the children to the park, they could spend as much time in the house as they wanted, without worrying about the children or the children being there. Serena looked at Bernie who nodded, they thanked them and got the children’s clothes ready for them to leave when Raf and Fletch are done.  
All washed, teeth brushed and hairs done with military precision thanks to Bernie and her egg timer, they were all ready to go to the park by late morning, Serena telling them that they can have their pick of the leftovers for lunch before Raf, Fletch and the children head home. Coats and hats on, they head to the park while Serena summons the courage to enter her own house for the first time in weeks.

Standing at her new back door, Serena grips Bernie’s hand as she unlocks it. Bernie can feel her shaking but knows she has to do this, see what damage has been done for herself so she can speak to the insurance company and finalise things. The kitchen is almost ok bar from a few dents in the wall where he must of thrown stuff against it, glass by the look of what is missing from the shelves, wine too by the stain on the wall.   
In the living room, the tv screen is smashed, along with the frames that held pictures of her mum, Ellie and Jason; luckily the photo’s have survived with barely a scratch and Henrik had left the photo’s on top of the mantlepiece, ready to put back in a frame. Jason had a collection of encyclopaedias, they must have been pulled from the bookshelf as they are all out of order and have some damage to them. Serena starts to reorganise it but Bernie pulls her away, “we have time to do all of that, keep looking around.” Certificates that Jason had won at his previous school were ripped and on the windowsill along with more pictures in out of the broken frames, most of which were of Ellie; again Henrik sorting it out and keeping them safe.  
Serena heads upstairs to find nearly all of her drawers emptied all around her room, Henrik wouldn’t touch this, may not have even entered, as it was mainly ‘personal clothing’ and a few toys strewn everywhere, they were unable to see the carpet because of it. Serena quickly went to hide the very personal toys and underwear when again Bernie stopped her, “its ok, don’t need to be shy about them, I have a few too and I did see them yesterday remember, I would have moved them but you need to see what damage he has done and I didn’t think that you would appreciate me handling these things without you knowing first.” Serena cried in Bernie’s arms sitting on the bed; she was right, she wouldn’t have liked it, but she doesn’t like the thought that Henrik maybe would have seen it too, not that he would ever say anything about the matter, far too reserved. Bernie and Serena started to fold the clothes into piles onto her bed so she can put them away in the correct drawers or take them with her to Bernie’s.

She doesn’t know why, but Serena had this gut feeling to look in her mum’s jewellery box. “For fucks sake!” Serena growled and fished out her mobile from her jeans pocket and rang the caseworker at the police station, D.S. Eivers. D.S. Eivers answers with a gruff tone and Serena goes into a rant about the fact that Robbie has taken her mums locket, wedding and engagement rings. The officer said that there were some jewellery items in the evidence locker, but as they weren’t sure who they belonged to so couldn’t release them. Serena had to go into great detail about what they looked like, she was told she had to go and make a statement and to confirm what was in evidence locker, was her property. D.S. Eivers proceeded to say “If they were your items Ms Campbell, he would not only be done for, breaking and entering, criminal damage, grievous bodily harm. He would be done for theft too and would have to go back to court just to answer for that, then it will be put in his court case in the new year." Serena agreed that she would come to the station on Monday (Christmas Eve) to give her statement and to view the stolen items.  
Jason’s room and Ellies room was untouched thankfully, she didn’t want to explain to Jason why his things were disrupted more than downstairs.   
They rang the insurance company next, who has arranged a new tv to be sent out and if she needed anything else to be replaces they would reimburse her once she sends in the receipts. To be fair she wouldn’t claim for the new picture frames or glasses, she is having her tv replaced, the backdoor is already fixed, but she would invest on a new doorbell, one that has security cameras on, so she can see whoever enters her garden, both front and back. Bernie promising to fix it for her as soon as she gets it.

At the park Fletch and the two younger of his children are on the baby swings having fun, squealing away while Charlotte and Evie are playing hide and seek on the playground equipment, Charlotte happy that she hid at the top of the rope climbing frame until Fletch gave her up.   
Mikey and Cam were playing football with Raf, Raf playing for his home country Scotland and Mikey and Cam playing for England, using their coats and hats for goalposts, not wanting to leave Fletch alone with the others, knowing that Theo if gets the chance will run off and he is a quick bugger on his feet, Ella thankfully only just able to stand on her own. Raf loses to the boys 4-2, and he reminds them that he was a man down, therefore they drew by default. Jason watching from the climbing frame told Raf that the rules state that even if the teams were uneven and it was a proper game, he still would have lost, “oh and Raf, you were offside several time, Fletch has taught me the rules.” Jason had a great time, he brought his latest science book and was making a list of items he needed for his experiment that he started with fletch at the school party, having found some more ideas on how not to break the egg as it falls in the box.

Serena’s phone buzzes, the children are on the way back all hungry and had a great time at the park. All while sitting around in the living room the children and the gentlemen told then about what they had done at the park. Cam playing football with Raf, the others playing on the slides, swings and climbing frame, Fletch swinging the youngest two on the baby swings. They head back into the kitchen and set out the food on the table so the children can have a picnic in the living room, laying a blanket out on the floor for the children, a small table for Jason as he doesn’t do sitting on the floor to eat. This left the adults to talk freely as the children sat in the living room after picking what they wanted to eat all while listening to Christmas music; the adults taking the opportunity to the left over non alcoholic wine that was brought especially for Mo as she wasn’t drinking at all now as she is pregnant.  
Serena explained to Fletch and Raf what mess the house was in, mostly cleaned up already; went into some detail about the missing jewellery and the statement she has to give tomorrow at the police station. Fletch offering to have the children but Bernie has the morning planned and offered Fletch and the children to join them if her wanted; Raf was at work until late having Christmas morning off doing a late shift Christmas day too. He agreed as it is best to keep excited children occupied, happy to find out that she had already booked tickets to the local winter wonderland including iceskating for them all and she could easily get there tickets too. It was decided that Serena would join them after the interview, she would also look after the younger ones so he could have some fun with Mikey and Evie on the ice rink and rides. Raf telling them all to be careful as he doesn’t want to see them in children’s A&E, especially on Christmas Eve.

The rest of the day flew, Raf and Fletch didn’t leave before tea, instead they treated them all to a Chinese take away, as the children didn’t want to leave and neither did any of the adults if they were honest. The wine and beer flowed and late evening is when they were all bundled in a taxi heading home, promising to pick up the car in the morning before they go to the winter wonderland.  
Bernie tells the kids that an early night is needed if they all wanted to go to the winter wonderland tomorrow and stay out until late afternoon. Not surprisingly they all rushed their showers and headed into bed, Serena reading to Charlotte and Bernie spending the time with the boys, reading to them which just lately is a rare occurrence. Chapters finished Bernie and Serena head downstairs to finally relax on their own, something that they haven’t had the time to do since they declared their feelings for one another.

Serena poured them both their last glass of wine before they planned to go to bed, sitting on the sofa listening to the Christmas music still playing in the background. Bernie could tell that Serena was nervous, thinking it maybe about their recent change in friendship, hoping that it wasn’t going to fast for her; but Serena’s nervousness wasn’t about that, it was about the fact that she would have to go back home soon and sleep alone in the house and finding the courage to tell Bernie about her fears. Bernie smiled and held her hands tight as she spoke. “Serena would it help if I slept there, in your house, for a couple of nights or until you are ready to be on your own. The children wouldn’t mind sleeping at yours I am sure, I certainly don’t mind.” Serena breathed a sigh of relief that Bernie would do this for her, there was only one issue, she didn’t know if she ever would feel safe being in the house alone again, even with the extra security they were going to install. “Serena, if it means I stay with you at yours, or you stay here with me then that is fine, we can even stay together in the garden in a tent if you want, but please make it summertime if you do.” Serena chuckled and leant into Bernie’s secure arms and enjoyed the way they felt.

After a few minutes, Serena leant in to Bernie who wrapped her arms around her pulling her up a little and closer. They looked at one another, eyes gazing flickering down to the mouth and back up again. Serena shifted slightly up to kiss Bernie deeply, Bernie’s hands pulling her further onto her, sitting just to the side with Serena’s legs over hers. Bernie pulls back just to make sure Serena is ok as she tugs on the loose fitting t-shirt, Serena lifts her arms up as Bernie pulls it up over her head, to then resume kissing. Serena reaches for Bernie’s hand and places it on her breast, gasps as she makes her squeeze it, for all intents and purposes, this is the first proper grope since well forever.  
Serena arches into her hand as Bernie’s mouth travels from her lips, down the edge of her jaw to the top of Serena’s bra all while gentle squeezing her breast and supporting her with her other hand on her back, lifting her higher. “Oh Bernie!” Serena breathes out a long breath, that spurs Bernie on more, neither know how it happens but Serena has changed position and straddled Bernie and whipped of her t-shirt, Serena having her two hands on Bernie’s perfectly covered globes; pinching the erect nipple through the bra, as Bernie continues to kiss her way all over Serena’s top half of her chest.  
“Bernie…….Bernie we need to stop.” Serena pants as Bernie pulls back sharply, thinking she has gone too far too quickly until Serena kisses her lips and lingers it there while pressing their foreheads together. “We need to be in bed, not here…..just incase……” Serena’s head nods upstairs to the children who hopefully are still sleeping; Bernie gets what Serena is saying, Serena gets off Bernie’s lap, grabs the two discarded t-shirts, pulls a half naked Bernie up and heads upstairs to bed.

The bedroom door is shut and again the atmosphere has changed from lust to love and adoration. Bernie slowly undressing Serena while she does the same to Bernie, both agreeing that they go no further again tonight, they just kiss and lie naked in each others arms, promising each other that soon they will take the next step.


	19. Winter Wonderland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Serena has to do something before going to the Winter Wonderland.

As promised Fletch was there bright and early with the kids to pick up his car promising them breakfast at the all you can eat buffet with Santa, at a well known pub chain just across the road, before meeting Bernie and the children at the winter wonderland. Evie begging that they take them all for breakfast. Fletch didn’t mind but there would only be room for the children in the car. He suggested that Bernie could go with Serena to the police station and meet them at the agreed time that they discussed yesterday. Serena was silently grateful, Bernie was unsure that he would cope with 7 children on his own but assured her that they would all behave because they will be eating their weight in food and having it with Santa and his elves. Jason wanted to go even though he didn’t believe in Santa, not that he told the others just Bernie and Serena; so did Cam and Charlotte who were at that stage of maybe not believing but didn’t dare not to just incase. Bernie relented and packed them all off with money in their pockets to pay for everyones breakfast and enough to have a photo and a gift from Santa, it is the least she could do.

Serena and Bernie sat in her eerily quiet house, it was very strange not to have the children there all excited on Christmas eve. Bernie did try and make it back when she was working in the army, but there were a few that she missed, she watched the children open some of their presents via Skype call as long as they had internet coverage, some had to be done on boxing day or a few days after that if there was an imminent danger of a strike that would put them at risk, being online.  
They wondered what to do with a quiet house then realised they do have somewhere to be, the police station. Serena was shaking even before she left the house, so Bernie placed her hand in Serena’s as they walked out of the house to the car, escorts her to the passengers side; Serena went to get in but Bernie stopped her by wrapping her arms around her and squeezing, reassuring her, that she will be there every step of the way. Serena squeezed back and thanked her, as they stood there, bodies and noses pressed together they had a moment, to look in each others eyes and to know that all will be ok as long as they support each other. Bernie gave one last small squeeze before getting into the car and driving to the police station.

D.S. Eivers was the person conducting the interview along with a young woman, Officer Morton. They all took a seat in the interview room and spoke about the interview process; the fact that it will be video and tape recorded, why their rights would be read, the fact that ‘Ms Wolfe’, would be able to stay with her for support but would be unable to speak during the interview, to which they both agreed. Then it started, their rights were read and they confirmed their names and date of births.   
Officer Morton brought the items out from a box file and asked her individually wether they were hers, she answered yes to all bar one, giving a detailed explanation of how she got them. The one she didn’t recognise was a platinum engagement ring with a sapphire oval stone in the centre surrounded by small diamonds. This she had never seen before and told them so, so they showed her the box, again she had no clue, that she had no boxes like that but she recognised the jewellers but never has been herself. The young officer asked if Mr Medcalf ever proposed to her. “What?” Serena nearly shouted in disgust, recalling of all the horrible names he called Jason. “No never, he was supposed to have moved in but that was about it. But things happened because Jason moved in with me, he took it badly and wasn’t very nice to my nephew so I finished it with him. He never actually moved in.” The two officers wrote it down, nodded and looked in the box again. This time the officer pulled out several evidence bags containing pairs of racy knickers and showed them to the ladies to see if Serena recognised them. Serena immediately went bright red and pulled them towards her quickly, hiding them from Bernie under the table. Bernie seeing the distress on Serena’s face asked if they could have a minute, apologising for interrupting the interview but even the officers could see that Serena in a great deal of distress. They agreed but Serena had to hand the evidence back over, while the officers left and made them both a cup of coffee for them, allowing the ladies to chat and Serena to calm down.  
“You ok?” Bernie asked and Serena burst out in tears of anger and embarrassment. She was ranting about the fact she felt violated that he went through a personal box that was hidden, that she never checked when they were last was there, never even thinking to check it. Then remembering that Robbie was found under the bed hiding when the police arrested him. Bernie listened to it all, she needed her girlfriend to calm down. “Serena,” she stilled but didn’t look up instead she held tightly onto Bernie’s hands now resting on her lap. “Serena I had a box like that, still do. Its not nice I agree that he went in it, but don’t feel embarrassed about it in front of me.” Bernie really wanted to lighten the mood a little so went for something crass. Knowing how they bantered before she went for it, appropriate or not. “I show you mine if you show me yours.” In the childlike playful tone they hear all the time at school. Serena huffed out a laugh and finally met her eyes, “really?” She was now playing in return, “we can compare notes and see who has the best answers to our single ladies problems, not that we are single anymore.” Serena shook her head, pulled Bernie in for a hug, she really wanted to kiss her but didn’t as she didn’t know if the tape or camera was still rolling; the officers came back in with a coffee each, if thats what they call it, Serena thought; and finished the interview. In the end she found out that he took an outfit of the French maid and a couple of bra’s to match the knickers, which they found hidden under his shirt after searching him before taking him to the police station where he worked. Serena too tried to make light of the situation, so cheekily told Bernie on the way out of the station doors that the knickers were crotchless. Bernie coughed nodded and waited until she was in the car before they kissed the living daylights out of each other. The only reason why they stopped was because they had to go and meet the children at the winter wonderland. Ice skating first.

At the breakfast Mikey was sitting between Theo and Jason, Cam next, then Charlotte, followed by Ella and then Fletch. All sitting around a large round table that had one spare seat, waiting for Santa, who would be sitting between Cam and Charlotte. Fletch sent them all off to fetch the juices that they wanted, Evie bring him an orange juice back as she stayed to look after the young ones, then food. Jason loved the fact that it was like a picnic, he could pick what he wanted to eat, even tried the little fried square potatoes for the first time declaring they tasted like chips. Fletch telling him that if he clears his plate he can go up again to get more food. Evie and Charlotte decided on cereal first along with a slice of toast sharing a pot of Jam, pretending to be eating at the palace with the queen. Mikey and Cameron happily tucked into an all English breakfast with extra bacon, topped with extra bacon. Fletch wondered if they left any bacon for him, he left to get the young ones and his own. There indeed was little bacon, he had to wait if he wanted more than one rasher, in all fairness there were a few other people that grabbed their breakfasts and was surely to have at least one slice on there. So ordering a poached egg he waited and took Ella’s and Theo’s to the table.  
Having returned with his breakfast Jason asked if he could fetch some more as he finished his, declaring he wanted some toast and juice, offering to bring more back for the others too if they wanted any, Cam did but the others were ok. Just as he sat back down again Santa came with his collection of elves; calling them all correctly by their names, Jason was amazed that they knew this and getting them in the right order. He asked Santa about how he could make his reindeers fly, and how he has kept the North Pole so secret net even google maps will show him what it looks like. Santa laughs and tries to give an explanation, hoping that it would satisfy Jason’s need for information, it did, for now anyway. The children all told him what they would like, Fletch listening intently, knowing it was Christmas Eve and would be very difficult to get them anymore now. Ella loved to pull on the elves hat, it had a bell on the end of it and she was fascinated with it, in the end the elf gave her one of her own. Santa having a drink and a slice of toast with them, he gave them a gift each to put at the foot of their bed tonight, saying that they can open it first thing in the morning. The children moaned but agreed and handed them over to Fletch who was worried about getting them mixed up until he saw their names on them.  
They were all full and left to meet Bernie and Serena just outside the winter wonderland arena.

Bernie and Serena were waiting with coffee’s in hand, one for Fletch too as they handed over their tickets to enter. The children all battling to tell them about what they had and what they told Santa; Jason however was still puzzled by the explanation that Santa gave him, wondered if he was actually real because how did he know what his name was, what school he went to and which class he was in. Serena could see the cogs turning but left him to his own thoughts knowing he would ask or research what he wanted to know. Charlotte was desperate to know what were in the soft bundles that Santa gave them, moaning that she had to wait until Christmas morning and then said she would wait with the others, Bernie having a sneaky feeling it would be open as soon as they leave to go down stairs.  
They are now in the queue for getting their skates, Jason asking if he could use a penguin like the other children as he never skated before, the young man behind the desk allowed him to pick which one he wanted then adjusted the handle so it was the right height. The assistant told him that adults use them all the time too, it wasn’t just for the children, to which he was very happy about. Theo and Ella wrapped up warm in their pushchair, Serena took them to where they could see them all skating through the thick protective plastic. She watched on as Bernie although starting like Bambi on ice, Jason telling her she needed a penguin, actually became very good in the end and even managed a twirl in front of Serena which earned her a quick kiss. The girls as ever stuck together holding hands as they skated around the outskirts holding on to the rail every now and then, refusing to have a penguin, once Charlotte realised it was just like inline skating she was off on her own, leaving Evie behind trying to catch up. Cam was with Fletch, Mikey and Jason, skating around at the bottom until they stayed standing for long enough to make it a little further around the rink. Jason only fell over once, telling Fletch off for making him fall in the first place, laughing afterwards about it. Before they all knew it their 90 minutes were all up, Serena fetching them all a hot chocolate, whipped squirt cream and marshmallows all topped with a dusting of chocolate while they exchanged back into their footwear, she was laughing at the way the were walking, as if they had pooped their pants, not used to being back in shoes rather than skates yet.

Ella and Theo had a nap while they were skating but their voices brought them awake again, Fletch saying that he will take them on some of the little rides, Jason offering too with Mikey while the others looked around at the stalls. Serena found a nice bracelet for Bernie, sterling silver that has infinity symbols that are joined all the way around, she spotted that Bernie liked it but didn’t buy it after asking the price, she held back and got it as a Christmas present. The children were all looking at the puzzles all made out of wood, Serena getting them one, Cam and Jason shared theirs as they wanted a chess and draughts set but agreed as it was expensive they would share it, Serena looking to Bernie who paid for it to the delight of the boys. Mikey was fascinated by this block thing, it was held together by elastic and when manipulated it went into a cube. Serena brought that at Evie had a piccolo, Bernie thought that Serena was going to get killed by Raf and Fletch when they found out, but Fletch laughed it off, just another one to the collection. Theo and Ella had a teddy from the next stall; Ella taking a liking to a teddy elf like the one in the pub and Theo wanting a reindeer which had a carrot dangling from its reins.  
Fletch kept Serena talking under the instruction of Bernie who saw a silk hut on the next aisle and wanted to get there before Serena did; There was a particular shirt that caught Bernie’s eye, a stunning red long one with covered buttons most of the way down, she thought that Serena could show off her generous cleavage in it. To top it off she saw a few scarves, one black and burgundy, one Burgundy and gold, both of which she had plenty to match in her wardrobe. Bernie decided to purchase them asking of they could be individually wrapped. Then spotting a tie for Fletch in dark blue and one for Raf in blue and green tartan, again asking for them to be wrapped, she quickly wrote out the cards to all bar Serena’s, she wanted to wait until she was at home before she wrote them out.

Fletch along with Mikey, Evie, Cam and Charlotte all went on the rides for the older children and adults, Charlotte was really happy as she was just about tall enough to go in them and had a special wristband to prove it. Jason didn’t want to go on the fast rides but was happy to have fun with Theo and Ella on the smaller rides. They first went on the magic roundabout with horses, Jason was happy that he brought his ear defenders as the music from the organ was too loud for him, the whole fair ground was really but he was coping well. Theo wanted to sit with Jason, so they found a horse that would seat 2, Jason taking his arms around the toddler and keeping him in place, Bernie was standing next to him one side while Serena was on the horse the other side with Ella on. Bernie spent more time admiring Serena coo over Ella, the blue eyed girl was so intrigued by her new friend. Jason gave Theo the reigns to hold so he can ride it as if was a real horse; Ella choosing to chew on her reign.  
The dragon was the ride that Fletch and the older children went to first, Fletch’s long legs squeezed into the small carriage on his own after Cam choosing to ride with Mikey and Charlotte grabbing Evie in the front carriage. Fletch held on for dear life as they were gliding left to right, up high then scooping down low rather quickly, so quickly that his well quiffed hair now stuck out in all directions making all the children laugh at him as he unsteadily got off the ride. The children however all flung their hands in the air, waving them around squealing with delight.  
Fletch swiftly finding Bernie so she could go on the next ride with the older children who decided she will drag Serena and Jason on swell. It was a ferris wheel. Bernie had a love for heights, Serena not so much. Jason didn’t mind and asked if all of the children could sit in a carriage together as they wouldn’t all fit in one. Serena looked to Fletch to see if it was ok with him, he promised to be waiting at the bottom after taking the younger ones on the car ride that was shorter than the ferris wheel. The kids all hopped in one while Bernie and Serena had a carriage to themselves, Serena held tightly onto her girlfriend under the guise of being frightened, she was but that was not the reason why she wanted to be so close to her. As soon as they were out of the sight of the children, not that it really mattered, Serena stroked her freezing cold fingers along Bernie’s heated cheeks and pulled her gently into a slow and loving kiss. Bernie held her their by cupping Serena’s jaw lightly, taking it slowly to the back of her head so she can play with the short whisps of hair, scratching the top of her neck making her moan and arch into her. Serena now holding herself close to Bernie by wrapping her arms around Bernie’s shoulders. Bernie broke their lips apart and nibbled on Serena’s ear “I love you” she spoke holding their cheeks together, Bernie’s hand snaking now from Serena’s knee to her thigh, under Serena’s long thick coat, squeezing her bottom before dragging her nails back down her leg, up her waist back into her hair. “I love you too Bernie, so much” Serena reaffirmed with a breathless smile that made Bernie’s heart soar. The children reached the top and looked down to see Serena and Bernie kissing again, “you wont see the view if you keep kissing” Jason said loudly, everyone from the different carriages turned to look at Bernie and Serena who laughed in each others arms, after sharing a brief kiss again, making the kids in the above groan and a muttering of embarrassing mum and aunty. So after embarrassing the kids they took in the view as they peaked, hand in hand, arm closest each other linking. As there wasn’t anyone waiting in the queue they were offered another go around, the children deciding to go with Fletch onto the turning cups, the ladies took another opportunity to be alone.  
Fletch again crammed into a small space was dreading the spinning, hoping that the ride assistant wouldn’t turn them very fast due to the small children, but no, Mikey shouted him over and asked him if they would spin them first, Jason looking horridly sat next to Theo, holding him in place as Fletch has Ella in his lap. The music started and the young ride assistant did as asked and span them rather quickly as they went over the hump down a small dip before coming back up again making them spin even quicker. Jason actually loved it, raising one hand in the air with the others while Theo held on to him now, Ella was squealing in delight as Fletch was going a funny shade of green, which Jason pointed out to him before they all had to find the nearest toilets, Evie and Mikey having the two toddles for Fletch.  
Serena and Bernie snuggled up again close, looking into each other eyes again, moving ever so slowly together until their lips met. Bernie had a thought, they actually haven’t had photo taken together at all, so Bernie tentatively asked for one. “Serena, would it be ok……can we…..I would like a photo of just the two of us.” Serena smiled into another kiss while blindly finding her phone from out of her bag, Bernie getting hers out of her pocket. They huddled together as they finally reached the top and snapped a couple of photo’s each, Bernie got an extra one when Bernie kissed Serena on the lips which she swiftly deepens, Bernie places her phone back in her pocket to once again envelop Serena. As they were slowly lowering they could hear Fletch talking to Evie and Mikey saying that yes they are finally a couple, Evie fist pumping the air having assumed right, she explained to fletch they were spotted kissing and hime winking to his teenage daughter knowing that him and Raf get caught all the time. Mikey asking loudly if they are going to get married, Fletch lifted his shoulders as if to answer that he didn’t know, so Mikey asked when are he and his dad going to get married. Bernie and Serena turned to look at each other, thinking that Raf and Fletch were already married as they wore what looked like wedding bands on, but in actual fact they were male eternity rings. Fletch stood there and went red faced, he is planning to ask Raf on Christmas morning, as soon as the ladies met up again with them Fletch took Evie and Mikey to one side to tell them of his plan. Bernie and Serena could see the excitement on the kids faces with whatever they were discussing, then Fletch called them over too. Serena made sire that Cam, Charlotte, Jason, Ella and Theo were all ok at the table while saying they were fetching more warm drinks. Fletch asked them for their approval as such which they freely gave it, Bernie promising to make a small cake later on, promising to be at the park for 11:45pm later. They joined the queue for the drink and food stall, purchasing hotdogs and hot chocolates for them all.  
When they had their food, Bernie suggested they headed to the arcades for about half an hour before heading back on the rides; Jason, Cam and Mikey all headed to the racing car games while Evie and Charlotte went to the dance mat. Having spent all their money and won a game each they all met at the two pence machines to see who could win the most. Due to using his logic, Jason won the most swiftly followed by Charlotte, all agreeing to put their winnings away in their money jars at home and save until they can get to do it again.  
They all got to choose a ride each, Serena agreeing to sit with the girls and Bernie going with the boys while a still very green looking Fletch stayed with his two youngest, taking the time to ring Raf at work asking him to make sure that he finishes at 11pm, as they have plans to look for Santa in the park with the kids. Raf promises to finish on time and vows to meet them at the park no later than 11:45pm.

Bernie had fun and sat with Cameron on the sonic spinball ride while Jason and Mikey sat on the other cart, Jason now having as much fun as the others. They all having their hands in the air, Bernie taking the opportunity to take more photos on before they disembarked off the ride. Managing to take a short video of Jason and Mikey as their cart came to a halt, seeing their red smiling faces was great, she couldn’t wait to show it to Serena.  
Serena, Charlotte and Evie were back on the dragon, all managing to squeeze into one seat, good job the two girls were slight in build. Serena wrapping her arms around Charlotte to keep her from sliding of the chair. Bernie managed to take a few photos and a short video of them too as they went round twice again due to there being no queue. Bernie eagerly waiting at the exit chain for them all to come down the steps, Serena missing the last step and Bernie swiftly jumping the chain, reaching out to catch her as she fell into Bernie’s arms. “You ok?” Bernie asks pulling Serena close to her, noses touching, Serena flushes not through embarrassment but through love and care that Bernie was showing. “Yes thank you my big macho army medic.” They chuckled and moved so the rest could get off the ride, meeting again with Fletch.

“Well, we need to go and have a nap before later” Serena says trying not to give anything away to the children but Jason being Jason has to go and ask what they are doing later. Fletch comes to the rescue, “we are going to go Santa spotting for about 20 minutes, if you are lucky you will see him fly then you know he will be at your house soon enough.” Jason quickly corrects him “I have asked santa to bring any presents he brings to Bernie’s house as I am staying there tonight. I do hope he has remembered.” Now looking puzzled wether such a busy person would remember that one request “Jason,” Bernie lowers herself to his height after seeing him tap his fingers on his legs as a sign of anxiety “I am sure he would have remembered, anyway you gave him your list this morning didn’t you.” Jason thought, felt his pockets until Cameron confirmed he did as he saw it, Jason nodded and was instantly calm again. Serena sighing in relief that was quickly resolved.  
They said their goodbyes and agreed to see each other later to go Santa spotting, Serena saying she will make them some reindeer food too.They all head home, Bernie persuading them all to have a nap, taking Serena by the hand to their bedroom, they strip down and lay in bed together. Bernie grabbing her phone showing Serena the videos and photos they took of their day together, promising to put them all on DVD for them all including Fletch. “Do you think you will ever do it again?” Serena asked after a short comfortable silence. Bernie moves so she can see Serena’s face, wondering what she was actually talking about. “Marriage?” Serena clarifies. Bernie takes a moment to think before answering. “Well I am not yet divorced, hopefully that will be sorted in the new year, but after what I have been through I never really thought about it. But marriage I suppose would be different this time around, I would be doing it out of love and not duty. So I suppose on that basis, yes I would, but I think that she would have to be pretty amazing to want to marry me and all of my baggage.” Serena hugged her tighter, “same here.” She responded Bernie was quick to retort “I would marry you in a heart beat,” Serena looked up and saw the love in Bernie’s eyes as she nodded to say I mean it. “I would too” she answered sleepily. The next thing they knew it was 6:30pm and they needed to wake the children up for their teas.

Bernie woke the children up as Serena grabbed a quick shower, knowing that she wouldn’t have time otherwise. She sat in their bedroom and looked around, she had many items of hers there now, since Bernie had her accident and her home was intruded by Robbie, she felt sick to the stomach but glad as she now knew how special that she had it with Bernie, how safe and secure she felt too. Yes she missed her daughter terribly especially at this time of year, but Bernie is allowing her to love again. Serena took out her present for Bernie and hoped beyond all hope that it would be enough, enough to show the woman that she truly loves what she means to her on their first Christmas together; the silver infinity ring means something to her, that their lives would be forever entwined and not just as friends or even as girlfriends. That their lives would be as a family, a loving family for all of their children, but to stay together for well until death do they part if she was honest with herself. Hearing Evie and Mickey made her think that again, marriage, her married to Bernie, which is stupid when they haven’t even had sex yet. In her spare time she spent looking up lesbian sex, yes she had done it long ago but wasn’t sure if things were different now and they were, there were toys similar to what she has in her box, then remembers to show Bernie sometime. The noise of the bath gurgling as the overflow is trying to drink as much of the water as it can, she reaches in the water and drains enough to give her a warm wet hug, her body reacting to the warm water and the thoughts of Bernie too.  
Bernie was in the middle of cooking lasagne and garlic bread, along with her trying to whip up a Victoria sponge ready for tonight, hoping that the smell of garlic didn’t permeate through the cake. As she waits for the lasagne to cook the cake batter is done and placed in cake tins, she makes a start on the cream cheese filling. Serena has come down to the smell of food cooking and Bernie’s muscles bulging from her hand whisking the double cream and mascarpone cheese together until stiff peaks, she smiles as she remembers calling Bernie her ‘big macho army medic’ and she can clearly see why she is that. The upper arm muscles and taut strong back prove the point clearly through the white vest top she has on, sweating at the work she has put into the mixture, looking around she actually hasn’t spotted any electronic mixer at all, ‘she must of done it all by hand’ Serena thinks and then wishes she was there to witness it all. When Bernie turns around Serena laughs as she has a large swipe of cream on her cheek, Serena places the bowl of cream in the fridge and pulls Bernie towards her, uses her thumb to get the cream off only for Bernie to grab her wrist lightly and suck it of Serena’s thumb, making her moan and warm with arousal. Bernie kisses her with some cream left on the tip of her tongue, sharing it as their tongues meet, Serena noticing it is quite sweet and she must of put some icing sugar in it too. They break apart once the buzzer on the over signals the food is ready, Serena shouting to see if the children are washed and dressed, they all loudly bound down the stairs and run straight to the kitchen table which Serena was laying out as Bernie was serving up after putting the cake batter in the oven.  
Tea finished, cake cooling on the rack and stockings hung on the end of their beds with the presents from Santa in them, they settle to watch Miracle on 34th Street with Richard Attenborough in, Serena laughing as Bernie was very sure it was his brother David that starred in the film, using the internet to prove it was really Richard. Popcorn, and fruit laid on the table, Serena and Bernie cuddling on the sofa after the children all chose to lie on the floor and watch it, they silently enjoyed their family time together, looking forward to what was planned for tonight. The film was done and it was nearly 10pm, Serena took the children into the kitchen to make reindeer food, while Bernie got out Santa’s snacks for when he paid them a visit. Jason helping Bernie as he didn’t want to put his hands in glitter and porridge oats, saying that glitter is very bad for Reindeers but can’t find anything to prove his point on the iPad, so leaves them to make it. Serena and the children make extra for Fletch and Raf’s children as promised, saying that when they return they can throw the reindeer food on the garden, both front and back to be on the safe side.

It was now 11:30 and they all were about to leave to go Santa gazing, Bernie sat the children down to tell them a secret. The children were very excited to what Bernie had told them and promised not to give it away, Jason asked wether they would actually see santa, “I hope we get a glimpse of him Jason,” Bernie says excited “But if we don’t you are not to be too disappointed as not everyone does.” Jason nodded and said he was excited for his friends Fletch and Raf, that he promises to behave and look after the toddlers with Mikey and Evie.  
With that they take the short walk and meet Fletch and the children in the park.


	20. A Christmas Day Surprise

The children, Bernie and Serena, cake and all meet Fletch at the gates of the park as agreed. Bernie hands over the cake to Serena and promises to wait for Raf to arrive at the park entrance, while the others including someone no one knew apart from Fletch, wandered down to the bandstand that was covered in lit fairy lights. The unknown person put up a small table to which Serena placed the cake down next to a large leather bound book, after telling the children under no circumstances were they to touch it otherwise Santa definitely wouldn’t come; the unknown person promising to leave it alone swell but would protect it from the children.   
Fletch was nervous and Jason could see the change in his teaching assistant and friend, he sat with him on the bench looking towards the gate. “Fletch” Jason asks. “Yes mate” Fletch nervously responds as his legs bounces up and down rapidly as his heart rate it beating in his chest. “When you have done this, will it change anything?” Fletch turned to look at him and smiled, he shook his head. “No Jason, just thought it took us long enough to do it, thats all.” Mikey came over looking all nervous, he sits next to Jason checking his pockets once again, Fletch smiles and points to what Mickey is looking for, he breaths a sigh of relief and waits for his dad to arrive.  
Evie is walking in circles around the bandstand, looking at her phone, trying to memorise something; Charlotte walking with her trying to prompt her when she forgets what she is suppose to say next. The next thing they all know Bernie is walking with Raf, using her phone as a torch signalling to them that they are on their way.

Serena got out her phone and played some music, ‘Can you feel the love tonight’ by Elton John, Fletch and Raf’s favourite film of all time ‘The Lion King’ Raf’s face goes from one of confusion, then he runs towards Fletch when he realises what this is. Bernie runs after him and gets to wait at the bottom of the bandstand steps, she straightens his tie, brushes her fingers through his hair and grips his upper arms. “Ready to make an honest man out of the great oaf?” Raf laughs. “Aye, we should have done this years ago.” Bernie gives him a quick handshake and wishes him luck as she walks beside him up the steps to meet the registrar and his soon to be husband.

The registrar smiles and turns solely to Raf. “Welcome, finally Raf. You sure you are ok with this.” He lets out a nervous laugh, “as ready as I will ever be.” She nods “Well with that lets begin.” She turns to Fletch and asks “Adrian Fletcher, do you take this man Rafaela Di Luca to be your lawful wedded husband?” Fletch took both of Raf’s hands and squeezed them, “I do.” “And do yo Rafaela Di Luca take this man Adrian Fletcher to be your lawfully wedded husband?” Raf pulled Fletch closer and looked into his tearful eyes and repeated his words “I do.”   
The registrar took their left hands and placed them in hers “Raf and Fletch” everyone laughed at their names being taken back to their nicknames but it is what Fletch wanted. “Do you both choose to love, honour and treat each other with respect until the end of your days.” They both said together with conviction “I will”. Mickey hands over the rings to the registrar and she gives them one each. “Place them on each others ring finger and repeat after me.” Raf and Fletch took their time and with their hands shaking slid the ring just over the 2nd knuckle. “With this ring I thee wed. I promise to take care of you until our last breath, love you until our time has ended on this earth, and protect you with everything I have.” As they repeated the words, they slid the ring onto the finger and the registrar pronounced them Husband and Husband, Fletch promptly kissing Raf before the woman could say it. 

Everyone cheered, hugs all around. Serena and Bernie signing the wedding certificate as witnesses and their children all signing the back, Evie and Mikey help the two toddlers to write their names. Bernie took a small pen knife out of her handbag and gave it to Raf, who cut the wedding cake together with his husband; Serena taking lots of photo’s to commemorate the evening. Just as the they were about to take a slice, Jason noticed something go across the night sky promptly shouting “Santa is here!” They all looked up to the dark night sky to see streaks of light whizzing across the sky. The meteor storm gave the kids a great show, the children all convinced that Santa is going so quickly around Holby that thats all they can see. They all stood together, including the registrar, and watched the light show with the stars around them shining brightly.

As soon as the meteor shower was over they said their goodbyes to the registrar and each other, noting that the marriage certificate said 25th December as their marriage date. Fletch actually telling Bernie and Serena why he wanted to get married on Christmas Day as they walked back to the car. “I was carving the turkey at home with my mum and the knife slipped and I stabbed myself in the stomach” showing said scar, “then this handsome man, a student doctor at the time, came to my rescue and stitched me up.” Raf blushed and held Fletches hands, he whispered something in Fletch’s ear, no one heard what it was but it made Fletch flush too. “So you see, it may not be the first date that we had or anything like that, but it was the day that I met the man, I only ever wanted to marry.” With that they said congratulations once again and left them at Raf’s car, as they walked home; Serena and Bernie hand in hand, knowing that they just shared something so precious; wondering if they have the same connection between each other.

Serena and Bernie let the children in the house, sending them straight upstairs to get ready for bed. “We will be up to say goodnight in less than 10 minutes. No bedtime story tonight, as we need Santa to come soon.” The children didn’t argue, just kissed Bernie and Serena goodnight, all apart from Jason who shook their hands instead as per usual.   
Bernie pulled Serena out the the house again under the stars and briefly kissed her. Bernie pulled away and pointed to the sky as another meteor shower gave another spectacular display. “Make a wish” Bernie whispered in her ear, Serena looked at her lovingly before closing her eyes to make a wish, then as she was about to open them, Bernie kissed her again, her back pressed against the door. Bernie picked Serena up at her waist and knees, managed to turn the handle and carried Serena through to the hallway stopping and gently putting her down at the bottom of the stairs. Bernie walked back and locked the door, they were about to go back upstairs when Bernie realised she hadn’t put the turkey in the oven for their Christmas dinner tomorrow. Serena laughed as she blasted herself for ruining a moment that they had; Serena promising that she hadn’t, helping her to pull out the ready and prepared turkey from the fridge into the oven, put the timer on, double checking them and then was going to head to bed before seeing Serena holding out a glass of wine. 

They head back into the living room, Serena putting on the tree lights and the electric log fire on, as they sat on the floor, facing each other, taking small sips of wine between glances that are getting more intense with every sip, Serena licking up any drops on the outside of her glass and Bernie swirling hers with every breath she takes.   
Bernie takes Serena’s glass out of her hand and pulls her in for another kiss, this one is different, yes it is loving and passionate, but raw lust too. Bernie hauling Serena up off the floor and onto her knees straddling her; her hands under Serena’s cherry red cashmere jumper finding the full perfect breasts that she has, they moan and gasp as Serena too finds Bernie’s skin under the grey knitted sweater, finding that she isn’t actually wearing a bra, her nipples are pert and stiff, sending hot waves to each others core as they touch each other freely. Bernie arches back and undoes Serena’s bra under her jumper then snakes her hand around the now free breasts, as she peppers Serena’s neck and jaw with kisses. Serena grabs the bottom of her loose jumper and pulls it off, shakes her shoulders to shimmy her bra straps down and off; then grabbing Bernie’s jumper and whipping it off in one swoop, lowering her hips down onto Bernie’s knee so they are once again the same height and look each other straight in the eyes again. 

“Ok?” Serena asks, Bernie doesn’t answer verbally, she answers by taking Serena’s nipple in her mouth and sucks wildly on it, Serena pulling Bernie impossibly closer into her chest, gripping her hair and rolling her hips, the feeling of the rough jeans between her legs is what she needs now. Serena tugs Bernie’s face away from her breast and kisses her before standing quickly and running upstairs to get in her pyjamas, leaving Bernie aroused and confused, then she remembers they haven’t said goodnight to the children. She quickly and quietly bounds upstairs also puts her pyjamas on and takes her turn to say goodnight to the children, now asleep and presents from Santa still wrapped at the bottom of their beds. 

Bernie and Serena stand side by side and wash their faces, brush their teeth and then get all of the hidden presents from their hiding places. Bernie’s favourite was the loft, knowing that she had to open the loft door quietly so it didn’t wake the children up. Serena standing at the bottom of the ladder as she lowered bag after bag down, Bernie nearly slipping once over the edge, managing to catch herself on the ladder and having the core strength, just, to pull and wiggle herself up, but in the process giving Serena a good view of her breasts as the top fell and Bernie couldn’t rectify it until she was safely back on the loft. Serena using the time that Bernie is looking for the final items she got her presents that she brought now yesterday from the winter wonderland and placed it in one of the bags. After passing the final bag down, Bernie asked Serena to take the first ones down and she will be with her shortly, under the guise of checking the children are still asleep. What she was actually doing was reaching in her underwear draw to fetch the purchases to also hide in one of the bags, which she carries downstairs to Serena.   
A second glass of wine is poured while they are separating the presents into piles under and around the tree. Bernie and Serena scrambling to hide their presents to each other before they spot them. Serena reaches past Bernie and lays a present so far under the tree, Bernie was about to grab it when Serena grabbed her arm and pulled her back out making them fall on top of each other laughing, they are lying face to face but upside down from each other. Their laughter subsides and they remember what they were doing before they forgot about the turkey and the children. “Anything else we forgot?” Serena asks, Bernie breathes heavily and shakes her head, turns her body so it faces the right way to Serena and lies with her hand on her head, held up on her elbow. “No” is whispered, barely registered to Serena as she is looking deeply into Serena’s eyes. Serena copies Bernie’s stance and holds her free hand on Bernie’s hips, joining them together.  
This kiss is slow, they break for a second and kiss again, “Bernie” Serena whispers, “make love to me today, tonight,” Bernie lets Serena go and nods “tonight.” “Please tonight.”

The stark awakening at 5am, was the children all bounding into their bedroom shouting Santa had been. All bringing in the presents from Santa from their breakfast the day before. Bernie was very surprised at Charlotte hadn’t opened hers last night or even this morning; Serena gave them permission to open it before going downstairs, there was paper flying all over the bedroom, Bernie and Serena grateful that for the first time in nearly a week they wore pyjamas to bed. Charlotte loved her red and white scarf and hat with the Mustangs FC logo on it, one of her favourite t.v. programmes that she enjoyed while recuperating from her operation in hospital. Cameron and Jason all had hat and scarves relating to a period from Horrible Histories, Jason had Roman, hit hat was grey and had a red tuft on it, making it look like a roman helmet. Cameron’s had Egyptian motif’s all around it, loving the sphinx the most; so dressed in their pyjamas, hats and scarves they all headed down stairs.  
Bernie insisted on them all having a drink first, she didn’t think she could cope today without her early morning pick me up. Serena taking the cooked turkey out of the oven, it was still very warm; all the children asking for turkey sandwiches for breakfast, Jason asking for the crispy bacon on the top of the turkey instead. Serena deciding it is better than chocolate, she began to cut some turkey as Bernie buttered the bread. Breakfasts eaten, they were now allowed to go into the living room and open the presents ‘in some sort of order please” Bernie asks, knowing that it may not happen.

Charlotte goes first and plummets straight in for a large round object, she is hoping its a football as she so wants to be on the girls football team in the new year after Mr Griffin promises to set one up. She is delighted with the red and silver football and promptly thanks Serena and Jason for her gift, passing the torn paper to Bernie who has a black bag waiting.  
Jason is next, he opts for a small rectangular box, he too is ecstatic with the full book set of Horrible Histories, thanking Serena for them.  
Cam goes for the largest of his presents. This one he notices is from Bernie and Serena, he opens it to find a laptop, he flings both of his arms around Bernie and Serena at the same time kissing them both lots, thanking them for his gift, forgetting himself he inadvertently called Serena his second mum. Serena paused, Bernie looked at her in fright, it was going to go one of two ways. Loathe it as she doesn’t have her daughter with her on Christmas morning, or love it. It was the latter, she pulled Cam in for another hug before releasing him so he can go back to his pile of presents.  
Charlotte had goal posts, football kit of Holby Sisters FC and a pair of tickets to go and see the girls and lots of clothes. Jason had a microscope science kit along with some Doctor Who items that he was getting into. Cameron had lots of clothes too and a set of goal posts that he promises to share with his sister.  
Serena is passed her presents from Bernie. She opens the smaller of the three first, the silk scarf. She wraps it around her neck and caresses it, thanks Bernie with a blush to her cheeks and a kiss to the lips. She opens the second, another scarf, this time she places it over her knee to see the gold patterns swirling all around on it. The third, Bernie asks her to wait until tonight, Serena looks intrigued but nods and hands her gift to Bernie.  
Bernie’s hands are shaking as she opens the carefully wrapped present, the inscription on the card ‘with all my love, for infinity, Serena x’ Bernie shuffles closer to Serena as she is about to open the box. The black velvet long box is slowly opened to reveal the infinity symbol bracelet, Bernie gasps at it, runs her fingers over each infinity link, “I love it, thank you.” Serena takes it out of the box and places it upon Bernie’s wrist, with a little shake to get it to sit right she pulls Serena in for a hug, promising that shortly she will thank her properly.  
The rest of the gifts are open, Serena and Bernie tidy the mess up, takes the clothes for the children upstairs and find themselves alone briefly in the boys bedroom. Serena placed Jason’s clothes on the bed and sat on it, staring up at Bernie who hasn’t moved for the last 30 seconds. Serena holds out her hands and Bernie takes them, allowing herself to be pulled to Serena easily. She leans down and kisses Serena, pushing her to lie on the bed, Bernie lying on top, peppering kisses everywhere she can reach, Serena placing her hands under Bernie’s pj bottoms on her bare arse and squeezing. The footsteps of the children bounding upstairs separates them quickly, managing to rearrange themselves just before the boys come through the doors promising to put their new clothes away themselves.  
Bernie and Serena tell the children they can play or watch t.v until dinner is done, they are going to make a start on it now. Serena peeling, Bernie chopping side by side, they make quick work of the potatoes, veg and batter for the Yorkshire puddings, Bernie showing her arms and shoulder strength once more and Serena watching intently.  
Oven on again, heat under the veg and potatoes, Bernie swings Serena around the kitchen dancing, Charlotte laughing and wanting to join in, Serena first then her mum, finally the three of them which was difficult in the tight space but they managed it well.

They boys helped lay the kitchen table, crackers and napkins included, Charlotte making name tags for them too, with her new sparkly gold pen. They all sit and enjoy their turkey dinner, opting to pull the crackers at the same time with each other, so a cracker end in each time Jason starts the countdown to pull. Serena laughing as she beat Bernie who also lost to Cameron. Jason won his, Charlotte too won hers. Serena telling them all to put on their hats and have a group selfie, using a selfie stick she won out of the cracker. The children all stood behind Serena and Bernie, huddled together and shouted ‘Merry Christmas’ at the tops of their lungs. Several pictures taken they began to eat their dinner. The family was almost complete, Bernie got a few of the pictures from Serena’s of Ellie, placed one on her kitchen wall and the other on the mantlepiece, Serena hadn’t actually noticed until Jason showed her. Happy tears forming in her eyes, squeezing Bernie’s hands in silent thanks, the one in the kitchen was a picture she had taken with Santa when she was about 4 years old, Serena telling Bernie it is the first Christmas where she saw Santa and not screamed the house down in the process. 

Lunch finished the children were again left to play while Bernie and Serena did the dishes, sharing a bottle of wine in the process as they didn’t need to drive anywhere today, deciding to spread it over the day. Bernie watched as Serena wiped the last of the glasses so she picked up some bubbles on her fingers and swiped it on Serena’s nose, letting out her customary goose honk in the process, Serena too grabbing a palm full and wiping it all down Bernie’s face. The children ran in to see what all the noise was, laughing as now Bernie was chasing Serena around the kitchen with two handfuls of suds, stopping at the doorway where the children were and clapped her hands together making it snow over the children, them too now squealing and laughing, Serena walking over to Bernie with her arms wrapped around her waist.  
“Walk anyone?” Serena asked once all of the dishes were done and suds wiped up off all surfaces, the children all wanted to go to the park with their new gifts, Jason opting to take his books, Charlotte her football and Cam his portable goals which was refused as they could do without it for now, he sulked until Bernie said he could take 2 old jumpers to use as goal posts. As if by fate, when they arrived, Jason spotted Fletch and his children parking up, they all ran and met up at the park, Bernie and Serena taking Fletch’s two youngest so he can play football with Evie, Mikey, Cam and Charlotte; Jason deciding he will be ref.   
As it was getting chilly, Serena walked back to the house to make a large flask of hot chocolate, remembering to bring the plastic cups, squirt cream and marshmallows for them all. Serena is back soon enough and stood there admiring their families all merged together, Fletch showing his wedding ring to Bernie who calls Serena over to look too. They all squeeze on the picnic table and enjoy the warming hot chocolate with extras and the chocolate bar, Cameron showing them something his mum showed him long ago, that if the put the chocolate bar in the hot chocolate, they can suck it like a straw, making it extra chocolatey. Fletch thinking this was a genius idea, Bernie telling them that in the desert, the night can be really cold and that she never had enough spoons to stir the melting marshmallows in her drink so one day she used the twirl and sat there, noticing were hollows all the way down, and discovered you can drink them through the chocolate bar just like a straw. Fletch promises to show Raf later when they add a tot of whiskey in their before bed.  
They had a final hour of play then they all headed home, watched Doctor Who and then went to bed, all tired from their really late night and early morning. Serena and Bernie waiting until they all are asleep before making good on their promise to each other.


	21. Love in all its glory.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The scene most of you have been waiting for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW or Trains!

Serena was standing in the kitchen, glass of wine in hand and one on the side waiting for Bernie. She was reflecting on the whole day, what started earlier by a marriage between their close friends out of pure love and family, finishing the day on a family that grew to love each other. It seemed like a slow burn, that kind of love that starts when you are under each others skin, kinship and understanding. A love that no one knew could exist before, thinking that their past loves was as good as it was going to get but now they know it wasn’t love at all. This was love. Bernie was sitting in the living room waiting for Serena to come back with the wine, but after a while in her own thoughts Bernie went to find her girlfriend.

Serena can see her approach, watching her intently as she draws nearer to her, eyes meet in the reflection, she is trying to control her breathing and ever increasing warming fire inside the pit of her stomach. Bernie walks, stalks almost, takes the long way around; never leaving the eyes of her lover after tonight, she was sure going to pour every ounce of love she has into this woman.   
Now standing immediately behind Serena, gently pressing her front onto Serena’s back, Serena leans against her wrapping Bernie’s arms around her waist, one hand of Serena’s keeping them there the other one reaching back to stroke Bernie’s jaw, asking permission for a kiss. Their lips meet, Serena slowly turns in Bernie’s arms and rests against the work surface.   
Serena’s hands don’t leave Bernie’s jaw for now, Bernie’s never leaving from around Serena’s waist. Bernie asks for entrance with her tongue by slowly licking Serena’s bottom lip, she grants the access before Bernie gets half way. Murmurs, gasps and shudders come of them, as hands now begin to wander; Serena’s hands gripping on the golden strands and Bernie’s have travelled ever so slowly up Serena’s side onto her neck and jaw, trailing down to the bare skin of the top of her cleavage. 

They pull away, lips red and swollen, Serena hands Bernie her drink and she takes a sip, gives Serena hers and walks hand in hand to the living room. Glasses discarded on the coffee table for now Serena puts some music on, soft jazz filling the silent air, holding out her hand Serena asks Bernie for a dance. Bare feet, Serena’s height is just under Bernie’s, she is enjoying the small height difference by looking up, fluttering her eyelashes against Bernie’s neck. Bernie entwines her right hand, Serena’s left and holds it to her shoulder while her left hand is tightly around Serena’s waist, Serena’s right hand half way up Bernie’s back, slowly stroking up and down. The song finishes, but they don’t, Serena’s head lies of Bernie’s chest while Bernie’s head is resting on Serena’s, both humming the familiar tune.   
Bernie untangles their fingers, lifts Serena’s jaw so they can look eye to eye, “I really am in love with you Serena, I love you more than I have ever loved anyone before.” A tear appeared in the corner of Serena’s eye, Bernie wiped it away with the pad of her thumb caressing her cheek while she was at it, Serena leant into her palm, kissed it and declared, “I too am so in love with you Bernice Wolfe, you have made me love when I thought that I no longer could. Look to a future that was no existent before you came into our school and into our lives. No one has ever protected me and loved me like you have before and that scares me.” Bernie pulls back a little but Serena instantly closes the gap and holds gently onto Bernie’s face with her fingers as she continues. “You put your life on the line for me, you have my back when I trusted no one, you let me grieve and love at the same time without guilt. I don’t want to spend another moment apart from you Bernice, I want to learn how to love again, to spend my life with that person and share my dreams and nightmares without question and you give me that.” Bernie relaxes once more in Serena’s arms, brush their noses together and Bernie responds. “My life with Marcus in the end was a living hell, I was frightened not only by his words but by his actions, still am. But with you I feel safe, loved and wanted, with Jason I see him as yours and mine, my children see you as theirs too. It was Charlotte first noticed it and when I was frightened she told me to was ok.” Serena chuckled. “She did me too.” “So from here on now, lets enjoy what we have, yes I am sure we shall argue, fight and be angry with each other, but now lets feel loved and safe to do that, to be able to discuss our fears and challenges that life will throw at us and face them together.” Serena seals Bernie’s final words with a kiss, they had stopped dancing a while ago, not exactly knowing when. Serena breaks away with a smile, turns off the fire, tree lights, Bernie locks the back door and checks the front is locked, hand in hand they head to bed.

Serena has one last present to open, Bernie asked her earlier if she would wait until they were alone, she did and now was the time for her to open the present. Carefully, trying not to rip the paper, Serena uncovered the long red silk top, she was amazed at the choice of Bernie, and the words that follow. “It is supposed to be a night shirt, from what the Chinese man said when I first saw it, the red is for the love I have for you, the length is to cover the whole of your back, to say I have it covered and protected at all times, the V at the front reveals the skin above your heart, your heart that beats faster every time I look at you, mine does too, feel.” Serena lifts her right hand and places on Bernie’s chest feeling the fast and deep heart rate, Bernie covering her hand with Serena’s immediately. Bernie looks in Serena’s eyes, making sure she made the right choice, spoke the right words and it must be because her tears are flowing as she flings herself in Bernie’s arms, hiding her tear stained face in Bernie’s neck thanking her for such a beautiful and thoughtful gift, that has more meaning to it than any other gift she has ever been given before.  
Bernie rearranges Serena gently, she opens her own legs and places Serena between them, her wrapping her own legs around Bernie’s body. Bernie pulls off the cashmere jumper once again, it will be forever on of Bernie’s favourites, she carefully lowers it to the floor on her side of the bed, she allows Serena to do the same, they admire the beauty of each other before Serena undoes her own bra, not having the chance to do it to Bernie, as she is again not wearing one. Serena shuffles forwards and tightens her grip around Bernie’s body with her legs and arms; enjoying the feeling of their breasts being pushed together. Bernie seizing the moment to kiss Serena’s neck and shoulders, Serena bending her head to give her room, nibbles and breathes in her ear, back to her lips once more. 

Serena bring one hand around and taking Bernie’s breast in her hand, thumbing over the erect and hardening nipple, making Bernie’s breaths deepen and become uneven, murmuring words into Serena’s skin, verbal tattoos of you like. Bernie tucks her legs underneath her hand lowers Serena onto the duvet, pressing her in the plush cover, their hips meet and roll instinctively, Bernie having to bite gently on Serena’s collarbone to stop the loan low moan that would have escaped, it does eventually escape as Serena reaches blindly for Bernie’s jean button and zip. She undoes them and uses both hands to push the harsh material over Bernie’s bottom, knickers going as well. Bernie crawls back, raises up and takes them off; Serena was going to undo her own but Bernie takes her hands off and places them above her head, “I want to do that.” She whispers in Serena’s ear, she does, she slowly undoes the crocodile eye, the button, the zip, Serena lifts her hips so Bernie can pull both her trousers and knickers too, finally her socks. Serena all of a sudden becomes self conscious lying there open in front of Bernie who is staring in awe of her; Serena tries to move away, but Bernie slowly takes her hands up Serena’s thighs and meet in the middle, Bernie uses her thumb to stroke through the glistening wetness making Serena grab onto the duvet tightly, forgetting why she was self conscious of being naked before Bernie.

Bernie adjust her position slightly to hover over Serena, Serena lowers herself ever so slightly so her mouth has access to Bernie’s breasts, taking one in her mouth and gently teasing and sucking on it she rolls the other in her hand, swapping frequently, Bernie arches up, her core is resting on Serena’s hip bone, moving slightly enjoying the friction from her pubic hairs. Having allowed Serena her fill, Bernie needs hers, so she drags her wetness down passed Serena’s core so she too can enjoy Serena’s generous breasts, starting by holding them firmly so she can flick with her tongue over the erect nipples; Serena is unable to keep her hips still and spreads her wetness over Bernie’s hip and stomach, which Bernie spreads hers further as she takes the opportunity to kiss all the way down to Serena’s navel, not allowing their bodies to separate until Bernie needs to move back up to kiss Serena’s luscious lips once again; as she reaches her face Bernie lowers her top half so they can once again resume kissing, feeling that their lips cannot be separated for just the smallest amounts of time; Serena takes Bernie’s hips in her hands and pulls slightly, Bernie’s head lifting giving the last space between them a quick look, she watches as she lowers her core to Serena’s with precision. Serena immediately wraps her calves around Bernie’s to anchor her in place, again lowering her lips to Serena’s skin as she rolls her hips to cause the right friction, Serena rolling hers to digging her nails in the firm bottom of her lover. Serena asks for more, Bernie unsure of what to do, she looks silently at Serena for answers so Serena pulls on Bernie’s right arm, she adjusts her weight accordingly so her hand can be placed where she needs it the most, Serena circles her own clit a few times with Bernie’s fingers above hers, then enters the wet fold and Bernie takes over from there, Serena copying Bernie’s movements on Bernie’s core; simultaneously bringing each other to a long and sensuous orgasm that leaves them boneless and wrapped up in each others arms.

Serena turns them onto their sides, not pulling away, if anything pushing her body more into Bernie’s as if she is trying to merge the two of them together, she places a thigh between Bernie’s leg and wraps the free one up high on Bernie’s hip to which she keeps there with a tight grip, their folds opening on each others thigh as they once again resume lovemaking. Rolling hips, breasts and nipples rub together as they do it, faces buried in each others necks, lips kissing the skin below, Serena gripping on with their free hand digging her nails into Bernie’s shoulder blade while Bernie’s nails leaving marks on the underside of her knee. It takes a while, neither of them tire, their moans increase with time and pressure, speed increases slowly until they are united in one goal, to cum together once again. They shudder in each others arms, kissing as they come down from their orgasm, sleepily they lie, Serena laying atop of Bernie, both too warm to yet be under the covers; only moving when they need to use the toilet, following each other not yet wanting to be apart, even to do such a trivial thing.

Serena sits on the toilet, Bernie hovers just the other side of the doorway, she hears Charlotte stir and get out of bed, allows Charlotte to use the toilet before herself as Serena has snook back into the bedroom. Whether Charlotte notices that her mum is naked Bernie doesn’t know but glad that she didn’t bring it up as she flushes the toilet, kisses her mum goodnight and heads back to bed. Serena reappears in the doorway in her new shirt, fully open. She leans against the door frame facing Bernie, waiting for Bernie to look up, when she does, her jaw almost hits the floor, she thought that it would be a good colour, a good fit but what she didn’t manage to visualise is a semi naked Serena with one side off her shoulder as she places her hand on her hip and leans significantly blocking the doorway. Bernie casually as she can rises from the toilet, washes her hands and leans against the other side of the open doorway; she turns Serena so the centre of her back is leant up against the wide frame, kicks Serena’s legs a little further open and stands between them, lifting Serena in one swoop then pushing her into the frame, the smirk from Serena almost kills Bernie, almost makes her drop Serena but with one last hitch up she carries her into their bedroom and pushes the door closed with Serena’s back. She presses Serena into the door and kisses her furiously, nipping at her bottom lip, sucking on her top, Serena holds on for dear life until Bernie drops to her knees, sliding Serena down to stand above her. “Back to bed.” Serena whispers to Bernie, Serena manages to stand straddling Bernie, but Bernie cannot move, she lifts Serena’s leg over her shoulder and uses her tongue for the first taste, deep in the folds to the top and circles Serena’s clit with the very tip of her tongue. Bernie needs a little more room so holds Serena’s aloft leg higher, as her tongue delves deep, Serena leans into the door, using that and Bernie’s head to keep her upright, her legs are shaking, she is once again close, she tries to warn Bernie but no sound comes out, her heartbeat is so loud in her ears, her breathing is short and sharp, she can feel her legs shake violently, her insides squeeze Bernies invading tongue and the warm liquid is lapped up by Bernie, who now moves to stand while trying to keep Serena upright. Bernie wraps her body around Serena until she can once again move.

Serena turns them around, pulls herself against her girlfriend, kisses her neck and jaw before trailing down Bernie’s strong torso, taking particular interest in Bernie’s sensitive nipples. Placing her thigh between Bernie’s legs she allows Bernie to set the pace, before withdrawing it quickly knowing that Bernie was about to cum, Serena widened Bernies stance so that they were now the same height; she stroked the full length of Bernie’s core, moaning deeply at the wetness she finds, Bernie’s breath hitching every time she circles her clit. But Serena doesn’t carry on.   
She kneels between Bernie’s legs and uses her tongue and lips to make Bernie cum swiftly, sucking and lapping it, holding her hips to the door, Bernie having to grab onto the door frame with the tips of her fingers as she doesn’t want to hurt a hair on Serena’s head. In the end after back to back orgasms, neither know how many Bernie slides down the door onto Serena’s lap, to breathlessly kiss again, the door vibrating with every twitch she has. Jason hears the door banging and knocks asking if they were ok, Serena saying she forgot to close the window and the wind blew the door, luckily Jason didn’t argue he just said goodnight and went back to bed leaving the ladies chuckling against each other and the door, Jason moaning again at the rattle and Serena saying she is shutting the window now so it wont rattle again.

Bernie still cant stand, she crawls over to the bed under the gaze of a smug Serena who is sitting on her side of the bed, leans down and kisses Bernie before she has chance to get up of the floor. Bernie blindly reaches below her bed while her mouth is being invaded by Serena’s not that she will ever complain, she loves to kiss Serena, when she has found what she is looking for she places the box nervously on the bed. Serena looks at the box, then to Bernie, back to the box and then goes to take the lid off before Bernie stops her. “I know we joked that I would show you mine, yes this is some of it. But there are some differences to mine than to yours.” Serena looks confused, then she remembers her research and smiles, she nods and pats the bed so Bernie can sit directly in front of her when she does. 

Together they open the lid.   
Inside there are several boxes, all different shapes and sizes. Serena playfully plays over the words and stops at a particular one, that has red and white stripes all over it, looks like a candy cane wrapped box, unopened. Bernie can’t look at Serena in the eyes, Serena takes it out and places it on the bed, closes the lid to the box and waits for some movement from Bernie. She coughs that nervous cough she gets and hides her face behind her hands, Serena laughs and wraps her arms around Bernie’s shoulders. “Look at me Bernie, why are you embarrassed?” Bernie shook her head and hid the box behind her back. “We can put it all away of you want, until you are ready. I am happy with what we did tonight, this morning now, I am even happy just to lay in your arms again. Just please look at me, kiss me if you want to, just open your eyes and look at me. I love you Bernie.” Bernie sucks in the biggest shaky breath at hearing her words, “I love you too Serena, there is only one other person that knows about this box. As you can tell none of them have been used, we didn’t get that far.” Serena held her and wrapped her cooling body around Bernie’s as they lay beneath the duvet, moving the large box back under the bed. 

“Do you want to use them?” Bernie nodded, her body shaking, Serena gave her that reassuring smile that she has whenever any child is taking a test and they are worried. “Do you want to wait?” Bernie lifted Serena’s chin finally able to meet her gaze, “just for a little while, I didn’t know if you thought I was some sort of pervert that just wants sex or has a fetish.” Serena wrapped her arms back around Bernie and spoke to her chest, “we all have fantasies and fetishes Bernie. I have imagined making love to you a thousand ways, and you to me too, tonight for instance you have made some of my fantasies and dreams come true.” “Really?” Bernie answered in surprise, “Really, but for now, we shall put this one” indicating the red and white striped box, “in the bedside drawer until you are ready to open it, we can stay as we are, but please not just kissing anymore.” Bernie swiftly moved to lie on top of Serena, entwining their fingers together by their heads, Bernie rolls her hips, Serena widens her legs to open herself up and rolls in time with Bernie as she promises that there will be no more JUST kissing, that she intends to show Serena in the thousands of ways she has dreamt about, how much she loves her. Serena vows to do the same.


	22. Boxing Day.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every family needs a good time on Boxing Day.

Unusually they all slept beyond 10am, Serena and Bernie are lying in bed semi conscious after hearing the toilet flush from one of their brood. They can hear Cameron and Jason talking to Charlotte about what plans they had today, Serena guessed it must of been snowing outside as they all wanted to make snowmen, Jason telling them if there isn’t enough snow in their back gardens then they could start their snowman in the park. Cameron wants to go sledging but knows they don’t have one, Charlotte trying to come up with innovative ideas on how they could improvise. Serena scares them by saying she has the lids to the recycling bins they could use if they put some string around the holes, something to hold on to. The children cheer and rush out almost crashing into Serena who luckily was pulled away into Bernie’s arms ‘shame she thought’, Bernie held on to her tightly and didn’t move, Cameron ran back up the few stairs he went down to tell them that, “you don’t move very quickly do you, we need breakfast before you say we can go out.” Serena laughs in Bernie’s neck as she indicates with her fingers to go down stairs, hearing Cameron still the others to grab some cereal on their own as he bellows to the others, “I am sure they are about to kiss again.” Serena does, just because they assumed and why not.

Breakfasts eaten and the snow is falling down quickly. Hats, gloves, scarves, coats and wellies on they start at the park, Bernie sending a quick text off to Fletch to see if he and his brood want to join them, but his swift reply saying not as its too cold for the younger ones, “he is right.” Serena says as she wraps her arm around Bernie’s waist, “shall I go and fetch Evie and Mikey, I am sure they would love to come and join us?” Serena smiles and nods, Bernie sets off calling Fletch to give him some warning while she is on her way over, Fletch being eternally grateful as Mikey and Evie did want to go out sledging. Mikey digs out their own sledges and promises his dad and Bernie that they would share with the others, Evie is too busy making sure that her hair is perfect until her dad reminds her it wont be after falling off the sledge a few times. They both now wrapped up, sledges in hand they walk to the park to meet the others.

Serena sees Bernie approaching with her long strides, she reaches behind the climbing wall and grabs her prepared mountain of snowballs, as she launches one at Bernie, Bernie sees the flying missile and ducks, laughing loudly she starts making her own; Cameron and Mikey join in abandoning making his snowman for now to pelt snowballs at his mum and at Mikey, none of them apart from Bernie sends them in Serena’s direction until Jason gathers a small pile in his hand, closes in on his aunt under the guise that they are on a team now only to shove his handful down her coat, Serena shrieks and opens her coat to and shakes it to get the snow out, finding the snow is gathering under her jumper too, Bernie’s snowball lands on Serena’s bottom and that is it, Serena is now under attack.  
Charlotte and Evie laugh at them all, glad they are out of reach, carrying on building their life-size snowman. So far his body is almost as big as Charlotte who is glad of the help now it is getting heavy to roll, Evie telling Bernie and Serena that she will roll it with Charlotte over to their back garden. Bernie smiles and nods, stays still long enough for 3 snowballs to hit her at once, one hitting her on her beanie hat that showers her face with snow dust. She shakes her head and starts to chase them all around, Cam first, Mikey second and then quickly catching up to a laughing Serena who finds herself now sunk into the deepening snow with Bernie sprawled on top of her. “They are going to kiss aren’t they?” Mikey says to Cameron, “yeah, they have already been at it today.” Cameron shakes his head, “come one lets get this snowman made, we had better catch up with the girls.” 

They head over to Jason who has made 2 rather large snowman bodies, he made as he didn’t want to be hit with the snowballs or chased, so he walked to the football pitch and carried on and carried on with Cameron’s and Mikey’s also as he was struggling to roll his own now. “Hey Jason these are ace, you sure you don’t mind us having one?” Jason just pointed to them having the one he didn’t want as it wasn’t going ‘round enough’ for what he wants, he was happy enough to do one on his own.

Meanwhile back to Bernie and Serena, who were necking like teenagers in the snow, rolling around in it trying to get the upper hand of each other only when Charlotte came back. “Mum, Serena really, can we at least do snow angels.” Serena relented and let go of Bernie, they found a new patch of fresh snow and they all laid in it, they made 4 snow angels in a semi circle, so they decided to do it again to make the full circle, there was only one problem, there was a rogue Chocolate Labrador on the loose, that wanted to join in too; he ran over, kissed them all before doing his own doggy angels in the centre of their circle, his owner running up as quick as she could, she apologises and tries to get the bugger back on the lead, but he escapes again running off only to make another snow angel further down the park. Jason remarking that the dog is more like a white Chocolate Labrador not brown one, as all the snow had stuck to his fur, not that Button’s minded as he kept on rolling in it.  
The boys were ready to take their bodies of the snowman over to their garden, Mikey promising to look after both Cameron and Jason, Serena made them promise to stay together and watch out for the cars on the road, they could hear them skidding from the park. They rolled their 2 snowman bodies all the way back home promising to bring the 3 sledges they made as the girls forgot.

Bernie and Serena helped Charlotte and Evie to start making the heads to the snowman, also starting one off each for Cameron and Mikey, and one for Jason. Serena looked at the time and it was fast approaching mid afternoon and they hadn’t eaten or drank anything since breakfast, she looked on her phone and found a chip shop that was open on Boxing Day, she placed an order of 3 large portions of chips, a sausage for everyone, gravy and curry sauce and 2 large bottles of pop. Knowing that they could have a small amount of time sledging before it arrived, they could sit on the sledges to eat, Bernie and Serena could sit on the snowy bench that she wiped snow off earlier, she just hoped that Buttons had been caught as she was sure the smell of sausages would bring him bouncing back.   
Serena hears her phone ring, it is the chip shop owner confirming the place for the food to be delivered as it seemed rather strange. Serena explains that they are having fun at the park, and that if they let her know they are at the entrance, she or one of them will come over to collect it; but please use the south entrance, they said they would and as they were so close they wouldn’t be using the car, not that they can actually get the car out of the snow. “We shall be with you in about 10 minutes.” Serena hangs up, calls over to Bernie who smiles and nods, waves at Jason, Mikey and Cameron who have all returned with the home made sledges in tow.

Food arrives, they all tuck in, sharing the chips between them, Jason only mildly moaning the fact he has to sit on his sledge to eat and they didn’t pack any forks so he has to use his fingers, Serena pulls out a small bottle of antiseptic gel for them all to use before eating with their fingers. “Thanks for this.” Evie says as she is licking the salt and vinegar off her fingers, “and for coming to fetch us.” Bernie smiles at the young lady, “thank you for coming out with us, you are welcome anytime, anyway Charlotte loves having you around.” Charlotte nods emphatically, scrunches up their papers and goes to get her sledge, placing the rubbish in the nearby bin, promising to stay within sight at all times while off sledging, Evie following shortly behind.  
Jason, Cam and Mikey, finish their off and promises to stay with the girls who have started to make the snow bank into a quick slide, Bernie and Serena sitting on the bench curled up into each other, keeping warm. “If I kiss you, do you think they will comment again?” Serena asks, Bernie chuckles, shrugs her shoulders and joins their lips together, the children are too occupied to see or make any comment as they slide down the bank and walk back up it. Charlotte and Evie now on the same home made sledge, finding it much quicker as they head down the bank. Jason, Cam and Mikey decide to go a little higher, just to the right of the girls, making their own smooth surface once again, as the bank is steeper and the fresh snow has landed making it deeper, they were going really fast.  
Serena and Bernie sort of watched them as they were sledging, their other time was spent kissing and whispering promises of what tonight would bring, hot baths, cuddles and another hot tea to keep them warm. Fletch rag Bernie making sure they were still all ok, asking if they wanted to join them for tea as he made too much turkey chilli, Serena nodding saying that they would go home and change before coming around with Mikey and Evie, she would also brink a few bottles as Raf would have finished work soon after and was on a day off the following day.

They headed back, all of the children enjoyed a hot bath or shower, Bernie and Serena too got changed, opting for a shower once they got back. Serena grabbed a card that was sat on the mantle piece and a couple bottles of the infamous shiraz, now all warmed up, Mikey and Evie’s clothes hot from the dryer, they all headed around to Fletch and Raf’s for a hot meal, without a complaint form Jason as the schedule has changed, Serena breathing a sigh of relief.   
Its is the first time they have all been to Raf and Fletch’s, Serena and Bernie have a good nosey around while they children are all playing in the front room. The 5 bedroomed semi detached house is beautiful Bernie thinks, more than she could ever do, but as much as Serena could, especially where the decor is concerned, creams and red of differing shades, blues and silvers, the kitchen dinning room seats 12 at least, well thats how many chairs are seated around it. They have 2 playrooms, one in the conservatory where the children are now and one upstairs which is more for the older children, it has an air hockey table in it, cinema style tv, Playstation Serena thinks and loads of board games. “I hope that ours don’t want anything like this, otherwise we will have to make one of our houses into a play house”. Bernie smirks at Serena, she finishes Serena’s statement “well the children can play downstairs while we can play upstairs.” Serena nearly choked on her wine, Bernie rubbing her between the shoulders then pats her bottom as they leave to go downstairs.

The food was lovely and warming, even Jason trying the turkey chilli but it was too hot and spicy for him so Fletch made him some hot turkey and stuffing sandwiches instead, he knew Jason most probably wouldn’t like it so made a plan B just incase. Serena surprised at Fletch but grateful, they talked about their days, Raf telling them about all of the sledging injuries he has seen, trying to to laugh as he regails in one story about a man who didn’t get off the sledge in time and ended up squashing his goolies as he crashed open legged into a tree, he was found by the paramedics hugging the tree for dear life as he was in so much pain. Fletch, Mikey, Cam and Bernie were in stitches, Jason didn’t know why they found it funny, Serena pulled her face in sympathy with the man and Charlotte just asked why didn’t he get off in time as the tree must have been there a while, so couldn’t be missed.  
Jason telling Fletch and Raf about the snowball fight and Buttons the Chocolate Labrador and making their snowmen that they need to finish tomorrow, asking if Mikey and Evie can come over to finish them, Evie and Mikey begging to go instead of hitting the shops in the sales. Bernie’s idea of hell! And she tells them so, Raf and Fletch agree but only if they can have the kids so they can spend some alone time, “if they come here for tea tomorrow, then we can drop them off about 9pm if thats ok?” Serena and Bernie agree with thanks, a house to themselves or have a meal out somewhere, “I can finally take you on a date” Bernie says, Serena glows red and nods, “I would like that very much.” So that was decided, tomorrow the eldest children of the brood would be with Bernie and Serena until about 4pm, then their brood will go to Raf and Fletch’s for tea until 9.   
Winners all around.

They head home early as they have had a few late nights and need to get ready for tomorrow, Bernie wants to make the evening special for Serena. The children are watching The Snowman on tv while Bernie is upstairs with her phone and Laptop, Serena is preparing the hot chocolate drinks for bedtime. Bernie is lying on the bed looking for romantic places to take Serena, she doesn’t want it just to be a meal out, they can do that as a family, she wants their first date one to be remembered and talked about. She messages Morven for ideas, but she just says anywhere with a long wine list, so she asks Mo, her reply was exactly the same. These ladies knows Serena well, but are not helping, then like a light bulb she messages Dom. The pair have a cheeky friendship that is now joined in by Bernie, Dom rings her immediately and tells her of something that is only happening until the New Year weather dependant. Bernie loves the idea, he even gives her the phone number of his friend, so he can help making dinner arrangements while they are there, “just mention my name and say you want the full package, he will know what you mean.” Bernie hadn’t a clue what the full package meant but will ask for it anyway, she trusts Dom completely.  
The next phone call was to a man called Lofty. Someone she has heard Dom speak of often, thinking its the new man in his life, but hasn’t yet said anything after the fiasco with Isaac. “Hey is that Lofty?……Hi my name is Bernie, Dom said to ask you for the full package………tomorrow night if you can about 5.30pm……..great see you then.” So that was it, the date was booked and the children were just heading up to bed, Serena following just behind, she knocks on the bedroom door before entering, “you don’t have to knock on your bedroom door you know.” Serena flushes and nods, the fact she said ‘your bedroom door’ and not ‘my bedroom door’ makes it her feel warm inside, she walks over to Bernie and kisses her, tells her to say goodnight to the children while she gets a shower and ready for bed.  
There was no argument from Bernie, she showered after Serena, together entwined they slept. Serena wondering what tomorrow will bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoping that you all have had a Merry Christmas.


	23. Day night and the rest of the week.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally have their first date.

Fletch drops Mikey and Evie off as arranged and went into town, Bernie managed to sneak him a shopping list of her own with some money. She needed a few essentials for tonight, knowing it was going to be a chilly one. Fletch looking at the list, he smiles and nods having an inkling of where Bernie is going to take Serena; that was something he definitely could do, she had ordered it to collect online last night always one to be prepared.  
She had spent the morning with the help of Serena preparing for Uni, she starts soon, has her reading list and schedule, she forwards it on to Henrik so he has a copy even though it is still the holidays for him, he is currently in Sweden visiting relatives and would be back for the new year.

The children were building their snowmen outside, they came in for a carrot each, left over sprouts for the eyes and buttons, Serena ripped up some old curtains so they could cut their own scarves for them, Charlotte grabbed some twigs as hair, saying it resembled her mums first thing in the morning, making Evie laugh; Jason, Cam and Mikey made hats out of cardboard boxes that their presents came in, Jason’s hat was like a viking hat, Cam and Mikey’s was like a pirates, even making an eye patch to go with it.  
Serena takes pictures of them all standing next to their snowmen, wanting to put new photos of them all around the house, wants one for hers too, when she feels safe to go back there. She also manages to do several pictures that include Bernie and her too, Evie taking some and some using the timer, it takes a few goes, but eventually they get it right; she sends the photos to Bernie, Fletch and Raf, promising to get them hard copies too.

Dinner is easy all wanting beans on toast, happily sitting around the table, deciding what to play next. They all decide to play Cluedo, Evie and Charlotte as a team as Charlotte has never played it before; Serena has decided that she and Bernie will play too, they set it up on the floor in the living room and start to play. No one knows how he did it, but Jason won easily, none of the others even half filled in their cards. He didn’t cheat as the chosen cards were hidden under the board and was selected by them all face down. As the worthy winner he gets to pick the next game and he chooses frustration. Serena and Bernie leave it to them, with the understanding of no arguments, especially when they get caught and send their peg back home; they were going to do some washing in the laundry, as there was a massive pile after yesterdays antics. 

Bernie started to put them into piles as they talked about her starting Uni, her nerves and that she is thankful that her placement all apart from 2 weeks will be at the school where she works now, Fletch having spoken to the headteacher at Evie and Mikey’s school saying she can do her High School rotation placement there. She has decided to do this at the start of the term, to get it over and done with; the Uni confirmed her placement dates just today. Serena was happy for Bernie but also was sad, she was going to miss her terribly for the two weeks she wouldn’t be at the school, but also would be around for Jason as he too is starting his visits, they decide to do the first day together with Fletch. 

Bernie bends down to put the first load in the washing machine as Serena is folding the towels from yesterday, when all of a sudden Serena smacks Bernie’s backside while high in the air. Bernie squealing then laughing as she back Serena up agains the small space between the worktop and the dryer, she is now penned in. Bernie places her forearms either side of Serena’s head against the dryer and presses her whole body against Serena’s front, her legs either side of Serena’s. Serena goes to kiss her but Bernie pulls her head back playfully, Serena grabs her backside with one hand and grips her hair with the other and forcefully pulls her in and kisses her. Bernie hums into the kiss and asks for entrance with her tongue, invading it as soon as it is granted; the sloppy sexually frustrated kiss was escalating, nips to the neck, hands under tops and thrusting on each others legs that have found their way where it is needed the most. It is Jason’s cheers as he has caught Mikey, Mikey promising to chase Jason down as soon as he is free, the children all laughing make them break apart, carry on rather flushed and watch them from in the doorway with their arms wrapped around each other.

“Where are we going later?” Serena asks, her fingernails grazing the skin on the small of Bernie’s back, she loses her thoughts and was about to spill the details but managed to bring herself back. “Ahem.” *coughs*. “You will find out soon enough Ms Campbell, but our little excursion out will need you to be wrapped up all nice and warm.” Serena scowls at Bernie, well not scowls really, she looks at her sternly to say that she wants to know, but she also wants it to be a surprise. “I shall have to go and look for some warm clothes, fancy coming with me Ms Wolfe? You may need to help chose the most appropriate clothing. Oh and do I need permission from my mummy?” Bernie laughs “yes I will come and help you to wrap up warm, but no, I don’t need permission from your mummy as I have it already from Jason, Cameron and Charlotte.” Serena went bright red as Bernie had a note from the children that she must treat her nicely tonight, ‘be her knight in shining armour’, but Jason telling her that she cannot go out as she will be far too cold if dressed in a suit of armour. “Noted Jason.” Was Bernie’s amused response.

Serena pulled Bernie upstairs, very quietly closed and locked the bedroom door and pulled Bernie onto the bed for a hot necking session, yes groping really, only just managed to keep it waist above for the most part. Serena slowly pulled out every jumper she had one by one, holding it up to Bernie, her eyes tell Serena everything, a Burgundy cashmere jumper that has gold freckles in it, a low V neck to show off her cleavage and black trousers just big enough to put a pair of leggings underneath after Bernie insisting it was necessary for where they are going. Bernie watches intently as Serena gets dressed, rubbing her hands over the jumper as Serena pulls it down, suddenly shy. Bernie lifts her chin “you look beautiful, stunning and gorgeous Serena.” Serena thanks her with a small kiss before she does her hair and makeup for the night ahead.   
Bernie knows she is being watched, Bernie puts on tight layer after tight layer, like a Christmas present that Serena will get to unwrap later she hopes. Bernie has a black turtle neck jumper which she puts a leather jacket on over the top, pulls out her leather trousers that she used to use for biking, and then knee high flat boots.   
Serena licks her lips so much she needs to apply a fresh coat of lipstick as she nearly takes it off herself, she wants it to be left on Bernie’s skin later. Bernie puts a small amount of moose in her hair and tightens the curls, brushing it afterwards making it all soft again, Serena loves to touch her hair, wind her fingers around the loose curls, she places a small amount of eye liner in and a generous amount of chapstick on, then offering it to Serena who declines.   
They head downstairs and start to get the children ready to go to Raf’s and Fletch’s for the evening, agreeing that they would collect them at 9pm but pack their pj’s anyway so they can come home and go straight into bed. The children are all packed in the car, Bernie drives them, they are dropped off with no issue at all - even for Jason, goodbyes said, items that were ordered and requested were exchanged and they were off on their date.

They sat in the car just outside for a few minutes, nerves becoming more apparent for both of them. Bernie started the car which took a few goes, as her shaking hands stopped her from starting it, it was only when Serena laid her shaky hand on Bernie’s thigh that she breathed a long breath out and managed to start the car, they shared a nervous smile, Serena’s hand never moving until they arrived at their destination.   
They arrive at a car park in the centre of town. Bernie gets out of the car and rushes to escort Serena out, hand held out waiting for her to grab it, closing the door softly behind her. “I have something that we will need to wear, I hope you don’t mind but I asked for help from Jason who gave me some help.” Serena looked at her puzzled, Bernie went to the back of the car and reached out 2 wrapped parcels, gave the one to Serena with her name on it as Bernie slowly opened hers. Serena carefully unwrapped the tissue paper to find a faux fur Russian hat like she used to have a few years ago, but it seemed to be lost; but instead of grey and green colours, Bernie found one that was red and burgundy, more like a red fox colour with strands of white, there was a pair of deep burgundy gloves to match too. Serena was amazed at the thoughtfulness of her gift, amazed how Jason managed to keep it quiet too. She thanked Bernie with a passionate kiss, Bernie laughed into it “if this is what a that does, wait until the summer when I pick your bikini!” Serena playfully slapped her arm, held out her hand which Bernie took, her hand now in black leather gloves and her head covered in a black fluffy bobble hat and scarf, they walked through the gates of their date, Serena amazed at the view in front of her.

They walked through a set of ice gates and a decorated archway, everywhere Serena looked were large ice sculptures. There was even an ice bar, the tables and chairs were all made of ice, yes they were covered in what looks like animal skin, reindeer maybe, but it was lit in reds and blues all around. The Maitre D took their jackets and sat them at their table, Serena cautiously sat down on the skin making sure not to let her trousers touch the ice. She was about to look at the wine list but a bottle was placed in front of her to inspect, her eyes shined when she saw her favourite Jim Barry ‘The Lodge Shiraz’, she nodded and thanked them throwing a quizzical look to Bernie who patted her nose mouthed silently saying ‘I know what you like.’   
Serena took the offered menu and chose what she was going to have, she chose oysters for her starters, Bernie chose warm brie, grapes and crackers. For their mains Serena and Bernie chose a share bowl of spaghetti with tomato sauce and pesto, for deserts Bernie had cherry and chocolate tart with whipped cream and chocolate sauce, Serena had a fruit bowl with dipping sauces.

Eating started off innocent enough until Serena moaned as she slurped her fresh oyster from its shell, licking her lips then swiping the juice from her chin with there finger, slowly licking it clean, Bernie was sure that the chair beneath her was going to melt as her core, no her whole body became on fire, her cheeks went bright red but her eyes darkened. Bernie decided to play Serena at her own game, placing a grape in between her lips, with the tip of her tongue just sticking out beneath it and she sucks it in with a popping noise, grabbing a small cracker dipping it in the warm brie until it tries to drip back off it then lifts it high with her tongue sticking out lapping it up. Serena needs a drink, she takes a large gulp of her shiraz and watches Bernie wind the stringy cheese around her tongue then lick her fingers. This is how the starters were eaten, even the Maitre D was watching them getting flushed on their behalf. 

The mains faired no better, Serena trying to reenact the scene from Lady and the Tramp, she did get her kiss across the table when they managed to find the same piece of spaghetti to eat, brining their lips together not letting the string break in the process. 

Then there was desserts.

Well I am sure that the Maitre D had a part to play when he placed the desserts down in front of them with no cutlery.   
Serena didn’t particularly need any but Bernie did, however she found that dipping her middle and index finger in the warm melting chocolate tart to scoop some of it up before virtually deep throating them to wipe them clean, licking them afterwards only to plunge back in finding a whole cherry and replayed the grape from the starters. Serena couldn’t play dirty like Bernie with her dessert but she was going to try at least. She dipped her watermelon piece in the raspberry sauce and licked it before placing it in her mouth allowing the juice to escape over her chin, Bernie watched as she wiped it clean with her napkin as if she was demure and sophisticated but with a dirty glare and smirk that Bernie was beginning to heat up under. A strawberry that was a little tart, so had extra dark chocolate dipped on it which was sucked off only to be dipped again, Serena moaning as she bit into it, it was so tart her eyes watered. Bernie had some chocolate sauce left in her bowl, she grabbed a segment of orange off Serena’s plate and coated it with the chocolate sauce, took a bite - about half - and offered the rest to Serena who took wit making sure her lips covered the tips of Bernie’s fingers, her tongue reaching out to lick her fingertips first.

They finished the last of the shiraz and took a walk around the sculptures taking pictures of them all arm in arm, one of the sculptures which was a nearly nine foot Christmas tree with LED lights embedded in it, ice presents under it, and one with Serena’s name on it, etched out in the ice tag, ‘To Serena with love from B x’.   
Bernie managed to slip it to the Maitre D when she handed her coat over, it was a small square ice box with a picture in it, it was one that was damaged when Robbie ransacked her house, Henrik placed it in an envelope as it was torn to shreds. Bernie scanned the pieces in and sent it to the photographers who managed to digitalise it and put it back together again.   
It was a picture of Serena and Ellie with Santa, Ellie was smiling and looking at the man whose knee she was sitting on. Serena was amazed at the generosity of her girlfriend, wondering how she managed to do it all without her even noticing these little things. The picture was nowhere near the size that it originally was but that didn’t matter, Serena could get it done herself until she turned around and saw the picture being projected on the iced wall behind her; along with several other photos some included ones they took over the festive period, even them dancing arm in arm with each other at their party. Music played, ‘White Christmas by Bing Crosby’ Bernie took Serena in her arms, tucked her tear stained face in her neck as they swayed along, earning a round of applause by all of the waiters and their new friend the Maitre D. 

Bernie paid the bill and Serena called Fletch to say they were on their way to collect the children to be told that they all are fast asleep and to collect them in the morning or whenever they get up.  
Arm in arm they walked back to the car, all nerves from earlier dissipated, they have found comfort in each other with each other, they headed home to an empty house, the first time for both of them that there will be no children around. Oh what to do with themselves.

Serena unlocked the front door and waited for Bernie who seemed to be dragging her feet, their eye contact remained steadfast, as she got closer to Serena, Serena could see the dark pupils that were there when they were eating and when she was pressed up against the wall earlier today. Bernie got on the first step, then the second and waited; Serena grabbed the lapels of Bernie’s leather jacket and pulled her in with such force they stumbled backwards kissing, thankful for the solid wall behind them, Bernie kicking the door shut with her booted foot that slammed a little too harshly.   
Serena unzipped the jacket and took it off her shoulders, hung it up next to her head and pulled Bernie in for another passionate kiss and who is she to disobey. The long black coat of Serena’s were dispensed of too amongst the fumblings and was hung up too; Bernie slid down Serena’s front to help her take her ankle boots off and the several pairs of socks too, giving each foot a small kiss before placing them back on the floor. Bernie needed help with her boots so sat back resting on her hands, lifting her leg up in the air as Serena took down the zip, eased it wide open and slid it off her foot also with several pairs of socks, Serena kept the leg tucked under her elbow as she did the same with the other one then took Bernie by surprise when she dragged her by her ankles into the living room, putting on the tree lights and fire, warming up the room quickly.   
Bernie lay on the floor looking up at Serena, her baggy jumper so loose showing off the skin of her stomach and the underside of her breasts, ‘oh what a good angle’ Bernie thought. Bernie held out her hands as Serena knelt between her legs supporting her weight as she lay on top of Bernie, legs immediately entwining, Bernie tried to roll them over but Serena shook her head and slowly peeled each layer off Bernie until she was down to her underwear. Serena kissed every inch of bare skin, her cashmere jumper adding the soft friction that is heating Bernie up internally so much so she is rendered incapacitated. 

Serena undressed her lower half, rejoined their bodies together she places her core directly on Bernie’s rubbing gently up and down causing Bernie to moan louder than she has ever heard before, but that what happens I suppose with an empty house all to themselves. With every gentle thrust her hands massage the encaged breasts, occasionally pulling on the ever erect nipple, Bernie gripping tightly at Serena’s thighs. Serena adjusts slightly to sit almost with her weight fully on Bernie, but Bernie opens her legs just enough to let Serena sit between then, cores still engaged; she pulls Bernie up and rolls her hips, Bernie too brings up her legs tightly around Serena with her feet flat on the floor, her hips moving in time with Serena’s. Serena grabs Bernie’s face tightly and brings their faces so close together they are breathing in the same air, nipples on nipples even though Bernie has her bra on and Serena still has the jumper on, but the added friction makes it erotic. They cum together loudly, shaking with aftershocks in each others arms, their heads lift and they share a chaste kiss. “upstairs?” Serena asks, Bernie shakes her head, “kitchen.” Serena smiles, nods and untangles herself from Bernie who needs to nip upstairs. Serena heads into the kitchen and pours them both a generous glass of shiraz.

Bernie goes into the bedroom and retrieves the box that she was so frightened of opening in front of Serena a few days ago, but something has changed deep within her, she wants this and she is sure that Serena would like it too, taking of her sodden knickers and her bra, she gets herself ready, places Serena’s silk dressing gown over her before she descends, wrapping it tightly around her. Serena is gazing across their back gardens, looking into the window where she stood for nearly 3 months waiting to say goodnight to Bernie, smiling at the changes, positive changes in her life when she feels Bernie wrap her arms around her and something that has clearly been added rubbing up her bottom and upper legs. Serena leans forward on the counter top, widens her stance and fumbles behind her with the tie to open the dressing gown, making sure that Bernie knows this is what she wants she rubs herself up the protruding phallous that is sticking out of Bernie. Bernie rubs Serena’s core and spreads the wetness adding some onto the dildo and slowly pushes it into Serena, stopping part way and Serena is the one that pushes it deeper; gripping tightly now onto the worktop edge. Bernie starts the slow teasing thrusts, not sure how this actually works, never using one before but Serena is certainly not complaining, yes she is moaning but of pleasure, “harder” she asks, Bernie complies tightening her grip onto Serena’s hips. Serena starts to thrust back too, she arches her back up so Bernie can attack her neck with kisses, Bernie’s hands relocating to her breasts, wishing she took her bra off first, but slid her fingers underneath so she can play with Serena rather erect nipples. Serena cums, arched back and holding onto Bernie’s neck screaming thank you, her breath so hot they can see it as she breaths out into the cold air of the kitchen. 

“I think its time we go upstairs don’t you?” Serena asks, Bernie not willing to let go of the body contact yet, walks around the house pressed up to Serena as they switch off the fire, tree lights and lock the door, only moving away so they ascend the stairs, Serena flinging off her jumper and bra before she reaches the top, leaving it wherever it lands.  
Serena heads into the bedroom, Bernie following closely. Serena stood by the bed and took the dildo, oh no double headed one off Bernie and inserted her end and fasten it tightly, she pushed a shocked Bernie to the bed, opened her legs wide so she can climb between them and whispered in her ear. “I thought you had something different to my collection.” Bernie gobsmacked at the statement. “What I have been with women before Bernie, so hold on tight and let me show you exactly how to fuck you with one of these.” Bernie instantly grabbed a handful of bedding, the seriousness in Serena’s voice nearly made her cum at the statement alone. Serena placed a small square cushion under her hips and waited until Bernie couldn’t take any more, she was begging and squirming, trying to pull her closer with her legs.   
Serena lined herself up, looked directly into Bernie’s eyes as she thrusted hard all the way in, Bernie arched off the bed, “christ” Serena lifted a little only to thrust is hard back in. “Ready?” Serena asks and there is only one thing that Bernie can do and that is to nod, never taking her eyes off Serena. Serena lifted Bernie’s legs higher up her back, “cross your ankles over baby.” Bernie did just that, as she tightened her grip with her thighs Serena began to thrust quickly and hard, almost at a punishing rate, Bernie took it all in her stride, words almost shouted out by both of them, declarations of love, harder and faster. It sent them both over the edge, Bernie first then Serena as she saw Bernie through hers. Serena collapses exhausted on top of Bernie who relaxes her legs finally around Serena’s the dildo still deep in them both until they pull apart just enough to extricate it from themselves.

After a period of rest and listening to each others heartbeats slow, Bernie decides to ask the question she has been dying to ask for the last hour. “So you are happy to look in my box of tricks, but can I look in yours?” Serena laughed her loud laugh, “baby, oh I think I may freak you out with some of the stuff I have, but all in good time. Sleep now, and maybe in the morning we can stretch our aching muscles and enjoy a long hot shower.”That’s exactly what they did.

*************************************************************************************************

It is now New Years Eve and they have decided to spend it at Mo’s and Derwoods, the whole gang is there from the school, even Henrik has returned from Sweden to go; he to providing all of the alcohol just as he did for Serena and Bernie’s party. The nursery was already decorated, just needed kitting out now, Mo showing off her bump as she shows everyone the yellow and green colour scheme. Bernie offers to paint some animals on the wall if she wants, Mo immediately taking her up on the offer, she starts then and there; about and hour and a half into the party Bernie comes down stairs with a streak of brown paint to her cheek and a dot of cream paint to her forehead, Serena wipes it off and they all head back upstairs to find a tree with a hanging monkey on it, a giraffe eating its leaves and a tiger sitting in some long grass, all in one corner of the room. Everyone is amazed at Bernie’s talent, Jason even saying that the tiger and giraffe are correct but unsure that the monkey would be in Africa, not that it mattered to anyone else. Bernie explained that when she was out on tour, she would draw as a way of relaxation, usually just pencil drawings unless she could get some paints at the local market wherever she was, vowing to show Serena one day. Mo and Derwood thanked her for her hard work, the delight in their tearful eyes.   
“1 hour to go” Jason shouts as he has set an alarm on his watch so they don’t miss it. Serena goes to her large handbag pulls out a cardboard box, in it was a piece of coal, a bottle of scotch whiskey (Bernie’s) and a bag full of silver. “Its a tradition I have always kept, someone with dark hair leaves through the back door before midnight and goes around the front after the first bell rings.” Mo takes the proffered items and asks Jason to do the honours, he said he will if he could take Mikey and Cameron too, which of course was no problem, Evie and Charlotte are currently paying under the table with some crafty jewellery thing that Evie had for Christmas, they are making friendship bracelets.

So the time has come, less than 5 minutes to go. Jason, Cameron and Mikey have an item each and go through the back door. The other crowd in the large kitchen area waiting for Jools Holland to bring in the new year on the tv; a drink in hand for everyone, one waiting for the boys they all count down the final 10 seconds of 2018. “Happy New Year” they all shout, the boys enter, all hugging and kissing each other. Bernie goes outside with Dom to set off some fireworks that they have brought in secret; Dom calls them all outside making sure the children have a birds eye view of them all. Fountains, screechers, rockets and pinwheels keep them all entertained fore the next half hour. Once all finished they head inside for a last drink before heading home.

Bernie and Serena carry Cam and Charlotte upstairs as they have fell asleep, Jason managing to stay awake long enough to walk to bed. They soon follow, “happy new year Serena” Bernie said between kisses, “happy new year Bernie” replied Serena, they fell asleep entwined knowing that this year could be the best year ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it was so long, just got away with myself on this one xx


	24. New Year, New Term.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not all goes to plan for the first week back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its been a while, hope its ok. 
> 
> Happy New Year to you all xx

It is Monday the 7th of January and everyone is late getting up. Serena has hardly slept because she knows that Bernie will be away from her, in a different school altogether, for the next two weeks and on top of that Jason is having his first taster day at the high school. He has already stressed her out with asking so many questions; wants to know why he cant have a uniform for that school yet? Why does he have to wait until September? Who will be his form tutor and what is one of them? And that is just a few. Bernie has spent endless hours calming him down, even had Fletch on the phone at one point. So now he is currently standing the at the door of their bedroom demanding to wear something other than his own school uniform to visit his new high school in. 

Cam is excited, it is his birthday at the weekend and he has made very specific plans, hoping that both Bernie and Serena will go along with them, possibly Fletch, Raf and the brood too. Serena inadvertently says yes to his plans and picks his mums mobile up to call Mikey and confirm, Bernie stands their in her smart dress trousers, tight white shirt and black fitted jacket and wonders what on earth has happened since the alarm went off half an hour ago. Charlotte bless her just goes with the flow, makes herself breakfast, packs hers and Cams bags, watches tv all while dressed just waiting for someone to plait her hair.  
A further 20 minutes later, Jason and Bernie are being collected by Fletch, Mikey and Evie; Serena takes Bernie’s car with the Cam and Charlotte in to school, where en-route a water pipe has sent water spurting in the air making the road very icy, having to a detour, they end up at school as the bell goes, thankfully Morven has a cup of coffee waiting for her in her classroom.

Serena’s day goes drastically wrong, there is no heating so they are all frozen and sitting in their coats, they move to the dining hall but are constantly interrupted by the dinner ladies who are setting up for lunch. The kettle breaks at lunchtime so no more coffee and to top it all off it again is snowing heavily. The kids are trying to behave but the coldness and snow make it for a day of bruised cheeks, black eyes and children falling over all over the place and she is the only first aider on scene as Dom has already taken one child via ambulance to the hospital with a possible broken ankle, swiftly followed by Essie who has gone with a child who has hurt their arm. She has a line of injured children in the nurture room, ice packs, gauze and micropore everywhere, used gloves piled on the table waiting to go in the bin, it takes her so long to deal with them all that Mr Hansen has to take her class for the first half hour of the afternoon which is supposed to be a science lesson, Mr Hansen doesn’t do science. So when she returns she quickly tries to catch them up but it just doesn’t happen; final break is quieter, still no coffee, assemble and then reading the new book, David Walliams ‘Awful Aunty’. Then finally sometime to find that she has to go the long route home as the burst water main hasn’t been fixed. No short cuts today. She arrives home fully exhausted wondering what sort of mood Jason is going to be in.

Bernie however had a settled day until just after lunch when Jason freaked out. He was on a tour of the school still (done each section slowly not to overwhelm him), when he went to the boys changing rooms to see a hoard of boys changing and half naked. He doesn’t like sports at the best of times, has to get changed privately when he does partake in the activities, so this was a sensory overload. Jason ran back to the classroom where he knew Bernie would be, flung open the door so hard the top piece of glass shattered on impact and hid underneath her desk where she was standing observing the science teacher who was talking about the human reproductive system. Luckily enough Bernie had spoken to the teacher about Jason and his reasons for visiting the school as she had seen them as they sat together in the Library to have their lunch with Fletch; as they had discussed his needs so she quickly and effectively the teacher led everyone out of the class, outside to do an experiment which has nothing to do with what they were studying.   
Bernie sat with Jason, quietly for a few minutes, Bernie was very worried that Fletch still hadn’t appeared so she sent him a text to say where Jason was and that he was safe. When Jason’s breathing calmed, she spoke to him placing a hand on his knee and talked to him softly until he stopped his tapping on the side of his head. “I don’t like changing rooms, Fletch knows that. So why did he take me in there?” Jason asked confused and still very anxious. Bernie made sure he was calm before giving him an answer that would suit his logical need and truthful at the same time. “Jason, when I had my tour earlier today I had to look in the changing rooms too, so I know where everything is, just incase I ever need to go in there……..” She gave him a few seconds to process this before continuing. “I will mainly be in the science and maths classrooms and am unlikely never need to go, but just think if there is a fire and you have to go through there to get out, you would need to know the way, so I imagine thats why Fletch showed you.” Jason managed to look at her, she could see the cogs turning in his brain. “So” He asks, “I wouldn’t need to go in there unless there was an emergency, I would be able to get changed somewhere else when I come here?” Bernie smiled at him, “I shall speak to Fletch and the Head Master to see if they could accommodate that, which I am sure they could.” Fletch stood by the door, the broken glass crunch giving away he had finally arrived, out of breath having ran up 3 flights of stairs. Jason got up from under the desk and sat in the chair while Bernie explained why Jason was upset; Fletch decided that Jason had enough for today and agreed to take him for a drink in town before going home, maybe even a tour of the museum if he was lucky. Jason said goodbye to Bernie who arranged for Fletch and Jason to come back and pick her up about 4:30 to go home. 

4:30 came, Bernie was exhausted, Jason was tired too. Fletch and Jason talked about the plan not to run away again if Jason didn’t like something or if he just needed space. He is to walk to the next corridor and wait for Fletch to follow him when it is convenient or possible, knowing that there may be a circumstance where he may not know where he is going to where he would end up if they were not in the school or hadn’t visited that part of the school yet. Bernie agreeing that he could always come to her if it happens when she is in the school, but asked if he could next time knock and wait before entering, Jason once again apologising for breaking the glass in the door.

The roadworks were holding them up too, Bernie hoping that Serena had a good day, not having chance to text her to let her know what happened with Jason, Fletch not able to neither. Tonight was lasagne night, she was thankful that she has one already made in the freezer, so she wouldn’t have to make it from scratch, the garlic bread was too prepared and in the freezer, just needing to be cooked which was easy enough.   
They arrived all together, Serena just pulling into the driveway with Cam and Charlotte as Fletch pulled up with Bernie and Jason, they said their goodbyes and headed into the house. Serena instantly knew something had happened, she told the children to go and get undressed into their play clothes and have a quick wash before they have their snacks; while the children got dressed Bernie gave Serena the quick version of what happened at school, Serena moaning in desperation into the kitchen chair as she sank down leaving Bernie to finish the fruit prep. “I hope I did the right thing making sure he goes to a non special school……..Do you think he will be ok?” Bernie pulled an exhausted Serena up into her arms and held her tight. “I am sure he will be fine, he has a visit each week so he can get used to it and he start to will sit in a class so he knows a few of the teachers more. I will see him again next week at lunchtime when he comes to visit again, and maybe you can go with him instead of Fletch or with them on another occasion, so you can see him settled.” Serena hummed into Bernie’s neck, knowing she was right. Bernie sat Serena back down again and got the drinks ready for them all.

Tea was uneventful, each taking in turns talking about their day apart from Serena who stayed quiet and in her own little bubble, nodding and humming in places as if she is listening, Bernie keeping an eye on her knowing that something isn’t quiet right. The children placing their empty dishes in the sink and head off upstairs to play, Serena still sitting there moving the now cold food around her plate with her fork, suddenly bursting into tears. Bernie moves quickly to sit next to her, waits for the crying to subside before asking her whats wrong. Serena eventually tells her everything that has gone on today, Bernie holds her and promises tomorrow will be better, she will make it better. The dishes are left in soak in the sink while they head upstairs, Bernie running a hot bath for Serena, then goes back downstairs to wash the dishes, makes the lunches for tomorrow and packs their bags ready; when she hears Serena plod along to their bedroom she switches everything off and puts the children to bed, Jason and Cam reading to themselves and Bernie reading to Charlotte until a pyjama clad Serena joins them; Charlotte is in the middle and them on either side of her, everyone reading a page until they get to the end of the chapter. Charlotte now half asleep, Bernie tells the boys lights out as they have finished reading, they head to bed themselves.

Serena clung to Bernie like a koala bear clings to a tree, Bernie loving each time she squeezes. “I think its about time I go back home, maybe Wednesday?” Bernie hums and draws small patterns on the small of Serena’s back. “Will you stay with me? I don’t want to be alone in the house.” Bernie lifted Serena’s chin and nodded, placed a chaste kiss to her lips, “I will be there with you all night by your side. Maybe we shall go into the house tomorrow to take a few bits and pieces over ready?” Serena nods and squeezes her again.   
Serena has a bad nights sleep, her brain thinking overtime about what today (well now it is today) will bring. What would sleeping in her own house be like after everything that has happened? Would she feel safe being there again, on her own? Would Robbie come back for her again? As the morning came, the sun still not yet above the horizon Serena stood at the windowsill of the kitchen looking out to her house. Bernie has quietly crept downstairs to find Serena, she steps into the kitchen; “You ok?” She asks Serena who jumps so much she has to hold on to the worktop. She shakes her head tears filling her eyes. “You don’t have to go back there of you don’t want to, you can always just stay here. Maybe look for a house together?” Serena looks at her gobsmacked, they never discussed living together even though thats effectively what they have been doing before they became official. “Pardon?” She squeaks out and Bernie looks at her with a bemused smirk. “We could sell up your house, mine will be sold once the divorce is finalised, then we could find a bigger place for us all, one with an ensuite bathroom just for us, a bedroom for each of the children, maybe a playroom like Fletch and Raf’s.” Serena dropped to the chair, eyes as wide as saucers. “You…….you want us to live together?” Bernie straddles Serena on the chair, Serena’s arms automatically going around Bernie’s waist to keep her there as Bernie’s arms drape around Serena’s neck as she looks at her deadly serious. “Yes, I want us to live together, I never want to spend a night apart from you.” Serena’s head falls to the centre of Bernie’s chest. “We have been living together pretty much since Charlotte was poorly, and thinking back maybe before then. What do you think?” Serena nods and now allowing the happy tears to stream down her face. “So I never have to go back there again to sleep?” Bernie shakes her head, “I need to speak to Jason, make sure he is ok with it all.” Bernie nods and smiles knowing that wouldn’t be an issue at all, the issue may have been him being back at the house without Cameron, or all of them. “I shall do that this weekend, and call the estate agent to come and value the house.” They are disturbed by the children waking up and taking it in turns for the bathroom with a touch of argument between the three of them. “Make that and extra 2 bathrooms.” Serena said as she pushed Bernie up so they could make a start on their coffees and the children breakfasts.

The morning just got better, Morven was still with Serena, with the added extra of the heating working in her classroom. They managed to complete the science lesson from the day before, even managed to do both maths and literacy lessons with success.   
Jason was very happy to back with his class and Mr Griffin, he too was doing science today, they were doing the egg experiment that he started just before Christmas. Mr Griffin, who Jason and the whole class has just discovered is scared of heights. He has refused to go more than 2 rungs up the ladder, making Fletch do it; dropping the eggs to see which survives in the stuffed boxes that they made.   
“Mr Griffin” Jason pipes up near to the end of the experiment. “Yes Jason.” He responds exasperated but politely because of the cold and he forgot to put on his jacket. “I have one more that I would like to try but I left it in the nurture room, I only finished it at break time, can I go and fetch it please?” Ric nodded and Jason stomped off to go and fetch it. Most of the eggs had broke upon impact, all in fact did when dropped from the tallest drop; when Jason returned he showed pic his egg that was covered in play dough that was still tacky, Jason added a little water to it so it made it sticky, so it wrapped around the egg and clung on to it and left it in the nurture room near the radiator to dry a little. Ric looked at him happily, Jason had thought out of the box, quite literally as there was no box in sight but the egg was completely covered as required by the instructions. Most of the other children just filled their boxes with foam, shredded paper and cotton wool. Fletch started on the lower rungs, it didn’t break. Half way up, all of the children gathered closer around and watched as it still didn’t break the egg. Finally the top rung, the bell went for lunchtime but none of them moved, so a bigger crowd formed. Mr Griffin explained to all of the crowd about the experiment and showed the children the remnants of the eggs all of the pavement. Fletch got all of the children to shout a countdown from 10, they got louder and louder as they got closer to 1, Fletch dropped the egg and it landed still intact, Mr Griffin peeling off the tacky play dough to show everyone there wasn’t a mark left on the egg, everyone cheered, yes it made Jason jump a little but he was so pleased with himself he joined in. Serena crossing just in time to see a delighted Jason jumping up and down shouting “I did it!” She congratulated him and promised he could have an extra treat tonight as a result but he replied that he would only have what Cam and Charlotte had, Serena smiling and whispering that they too could have one too to celebrate with him.  
Cam was ok, he enjoyed the science experiment but was disappointed that all of his broke but not until the highest rung of the ladder, he wanted to do better, wanted to know why they broke. He spent his lunchtime doing research on the computer in the library on how to make his experiment better, Jason telling him why he thought about play dough and not clay, clay drying too quickly and it gets too hard. So he goes to see Mr Griffin to see if he works on another egg this week as his homework again, could he have another go, which Mr griffin agrees to, never wanting to stop a child from learning. Cameron making a note to sit with his mum and make a few more eggs up, hoping Jason would help too.  
Charlotte had an ok day, she wanted to do PE outside but the snow that has now defrosted from yesterday made it that they couldn’t so they were stuck indoors on the activity climbing frame; which was ok until she got to the ropes, she couldn’t lift herself up the rope, not even get 2 feet attached, Mo tried to help by picking her up so she could cling to it but she just slipped down making her hands slightly sore from the rope. So her Miss Effanga put her on the balance beam which she seemed to excel at, it was one of her favourites when she was in gymnastics after school club along with the tumble mat. Charlotte finished her PE lesson doing handstands against the wall with her best friend of the week Liv; Liv and Charlotte managed to do 5 handstands each before the blood used to their heads making them slightly unsteady and lying on the floor laughing.

Bernie was enjoying being at the high school more than she had anticipated, today she was based in maths, one of her favourite subjects. It was a year 12 class in particular that she enjoyed the most, the bottom set to be exact; the teacher not impressed with the work ethic of the children in her class. Bernie sat with a small table of children and watched how the teacher spoke over them, explained it once and wouldn’t repeat it. Bernie taking time to explain it again and again, in the end she got out an A3 size paper and wrote the equation out, getting the children to tell her what should go next and why, when they got it wrong she didn’t chastise them she asked a question about to make them think of a different way, hinting to the right way. In the end her table got the questions all correct to the dismay of the teacher, she stomped around the classroom shoving the unused chairs under the desk, Bernie let it go. She let it go until after lunch which she spent with nearly the whole class going over the whole lesson, unbeknown to Bernie the headmaster popped his head in to see what the excitement was as she was jumping up and down when they got it correct and the children gave each other high fives. He left without anyone noticing he was there.   
At the end of the day she got called to the Heads office, she though she may have overstepped but didn’t really care as the children really enjoyed themselves and learned more from her than what they did the previous term with their teacher. “Ms Wolfe,” Mr Fielding shouted as he barked through the door to ask her to enter, she took the indicated seat and wanted to be told off but instead he asked her about the teaching methods of her mentor of the day. Bernie refused to comment on the basis that she was only a trainee teacher and not a qualified one, but did say that “if she treated the children like young adults that are prepared to learn and grow; and not something that is on the bottom of her shoe she might get somewhere.” He nodded, “I thank you for your honesty, I am asking if you keep this conversation between us.” Bernie nodded “of course” as she exited the room to head home.

That was how the week went, the weekend however was extremely busy as it was Cam’s 9th birthday.


	25. Birthday Celebrations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is Cam's birthday and he is very excited.

Early Saturday morning they were woken by Cam running into their bedroom shouting “It’s my birthday” at the top of his lungs. Luckily they went to bed with pyjama’s on their top half and their naked lower half was covered by the winter duvet. With sleep still in their eyes they wish Cam a very happy birthday, promising presents and cards are all waiting downstairs for him, but first coffee and breakfast. “Mum, can I please have Nutella on toast?” He battered his rather blue eyes at Serena and not Bernie, Serena looking over his shoulder to look at Bernie “he asked you my love.” Serena smiled at them both and nodded, hugged Cam tight “anything you would like for the birthday boy.” Cam replied a thank you as he went to wake up Charlotte, he didn’t need to wake Jason as he had already gone to the bathroom.

“I think he likes the idea of us living together,” Serena said as she rolled into Bernie’s open arms. Bernie hummed, “one down two to go!” Serena moaned, Charlotte was going to be ok with it, they both knew that, but Jason…how was he going to react? “I shall speak to him at some point today.” Serena mumbled kissing Bernie’s neck, knowing that they really can’t start anything but she really cant help it. Serena finally breaks away and shoots up quickly out of bed and gets dressed, Bernie mock moaning; one because Serena is semi naked in front of her and what a wonderful sight it is and secondly because she is getting dressed and not undressed, ‘you can’t win them all’ she thinks and finally gets out of bed to get dressed herself.  
For breakfast it is Nutella on toast all around, juice for the kids and strong and hot coffee’s for the ladies, getting ready for their busy day ahead. Two excited children and one that is already full to bursting they are going to need it.

Cameron never had so many cards and presents before, he has 3 tickets to go and see Holby City Football team, picking Mikey immediately to go as he knows Jason and Charlotte wouldn’t want to go, and then asks if Raf would take them, Bernie and Serena sighing in relief it is not either of them. Serena brought him the team top for him, Jason the scarf, Charlotte the hat and Raf, Fletch and the children had brought him a lunch box, drinks bottle and boot bag. He was well happy, “this has been the best birthday ever and we haven’t even left the house yet!” Cam jumped up in the air as he thanked Bernie and Serena, calling Serena his second mum once again leaving her beaming too.

Serena inadvertently agreed that they could go to the Roman reenactment a few days ago, he also begged to then go swimming afterwards at the local waterpark, Mikey and Evie joining them too for it all then Raf, Fletch, Theo and Ella would be joining at the water park.   
Serena also rang the estate agents to arrange for them to come and value the house as promised, making the appointment for the following weekend; she only just managed to do it on the way to the old roman fort, near the museum; Bernie laying her hand on Serena’s thigh as she excitedly rings and sorts it all out, discussing everything quietly with Bernie as they go. Jason too is excited, not just because of the reenactment but because he will be staying at Bernie’s house for the foreseeable future; after listening in to Serena’s conversation with the estate agent and Bernie, his only question being when can he pick out his new bedding for his new bed? Serena and Bernie both sighed in relief that he is ok with the change, well no change really, just not ever going back to his old house.

The old Roman Fort was a lot bigger than Bernie thought it was going to be, she thought it was going to be about a 20ft square bit of cobbled paving but it has slowly been rebuilt to how it would have been in the Roman times. There was a court yard, several buildings all decked out, many people in reenactment clothing that quite frankly smelt as though it was genuinely back in the 410 AD, Serena mumbled this but used the word 5th Century rather than the proper year to Bernie, Jason heard this and turned quickly walked backwards to Charlotte, Bernie and Serena as quickly as he could so he didn’t miss out on anything he stated “in Roman times a Century is the equivalent of our army today.” Then once again quickly walked back to Evie, Mikey and Cam, leaving the ladies rather bemused with their telling off.

Charlotte stood behind Serena for most of the reenactment, scared of all the shouting, chants and banging of their weapons on the long and wide shields, as they stomp away making the ground vibrate underneath them. Jason, Mikey and Evie was stood at the rope watching it all in awe. They got invited to join in after Jason told one of the Romans it was Cam’s Birthday, Charlotte was invited but chose to stay with Bernie and Serena still unsure of it all. Serena got lots of photo’s of the tree of them taking part, the shield were taller than them so they gave them smaller ones to take part in, taught them all the moves and Jason was right when talking to Raf and Fletch, they didn’t wield their sword around, just did precise blows to hurt their opponent. When the reenactment over, they all wandered around the site looking at all the huts and rooms on show.

Charlotte did only then come from behind Serena and Bernie, she agreed to try some of the food that they were cooking in the tent, happily helping to stir the pot over the fire. Serena managed to get a few more photo’s, one of Jason nearly falling backwards after putting on the chain mail top on from one of the roman soldiers, not realising how heavy it was to wear, not even able to make a few steps in it, he stood there frozen, only managing to move his hands. One of Charlotte with an apron on stirring the cauldron, Evie had hers as a medical witch doctor making potions for the wounded roman soldiers, and Several of Cam and Mikey who were into everything, even playing Roman games, like shot put as it is known today.   
One on the soldiers took a photo of them all, sitting in a roman chariot all saying “happy birthday Cam” as he clicked to take the photo. 

It was soon time to go, they were all sad to leave but happy to head to their next adventure. Serena rang Raf stying they were on their way, Raf and Fletch already prepared a picnic for them all, they arranged to meet at the canal side just around the corner.

Raf and Fletch were already there when they arrived, Fletch sniffing them all, Serena batting him away laughing, “if only you knew how bad it was” she laughed, “shower for you all before you go and stink out the water.” Fletch said, they all nodded as they tucked into their sandwiches and fruit. All of the children telling Raf and Fletch what they had done, Serena showing them and sending the newly taken photos. Raf deciding that he wanted a group photo of them all, handing Fletch Serena’s phone as he had the longest arms, they all crowded around with the cheesiest smiles he took a photo, “right now lets have a silly photo.” Fletch having to explain this to Jason, he nodded and decided to pull his roman fighting face while the others stuck out tongues, crossed eyes and did bunny ears, Serena however stuck her tongue in Bernie’s ear and smirked at the camera just at the right time, Bernie’s shocked eyes and open mouth was a picture. Serena deciding to crop that bit alone to make it bigger, and store it somewhere for them both. 

Wrappers put in the bin, lids put on the drinks and the bottles put in their swimming bags they headed into the waterpark, all agreeing they can meet at the edge of the wave pool, if they behaved they could all go around together and not have to stay with them. They got into the cubicles to get changed, Bernie pushing Serena in following quickly behind but with Ella in tow, wanting to help out Fletch and Raf, also knowing she wouldn’t behave herself otherwise, she was still rather flustered from Serena kissing her neck first thing this morning, now she has to watch her delicious curves in a swimming costume for the first time, all afternoon. But this was not to be as Serena was very conscious of her body so placed a leopard print sarong over the top that almost covered the whole of her body. Bernie throwing her a questioning look, Serena shyly lowered her eyes and left the cubicle without a word.

As promised they all met at the edge of the wave pool which had just started with the waves. Bernie and Fletch read the children the riot act, giving them the order to take turns to chose what ride or area they want to go in, also Serena stating that they are not to go in the rapids without an adult being there, not swimming with them but by the exit to help them out. All children agreed and head off to the big slides, Fletch, Raf and the ladies take Ella and Theo to the toddler side.   
They all take it in turns to spy on the children, making sure they are all playing nicely and staying together; the children did as was asked, coming to them every half hour as promised, having a drink saying where they are next going. 

Jason wants to go on the rapids and as it is his turn. Raf and Fletch take them all on, swimming around playing shark attack (Raf and Fletch chasing the kids around the rapids, trying to get them. If they do they have been eaten by the shark). Evie and Charlotte are hiding behind Fletch, thinking that they were going to win but what they didn’t realise was that Raf was behind them under water, he placed himself in the jet stream and caught the girls, one in each arm and dunked them both. The three of them laughing as they came up for air. Fletch is on the trail for the boys, Jason was caught first, Mikey second and Cam wasn’t anywhere to be found, the girls laughing loudly as once again the men passed him, he was hiding on the steps, he ducks underwater as Jason swims passed and holds his breath for as long as he can hoping Raf and Fletch go passed un-noticing him, which they do until they get worried, Evie giving him away by whispering in her dads ear telling him where Cam was so they all formed a plan; they children all hang back at the bottom end of the rapids, Raf and Fletch swam around, underwater as they approached. They grabbed an arm and a leg each and pulled him into the main water rapids and dunked him several times, well 9 times to be precise, one for each year he was on this planet, the girls did one then so did Jason and Mikey who managed to dunk themselves in the process.

Charlottes pick now, she wanted to go on the rainbow slides, Raf and Fletch helped them out of the rapids and let them go on their way, they heading back to Bernie, Serena, Ella and Theo who were all playing slides of their own, Bernie at the top helping them on the slide and Serena catching them at the bottom, her sarong clinging nicely to her body, her eyes meet Bernie’s eventually who has been caught clearly looking at her girlfriends body. Serena becomes increasingly self conscious and when Raf and Fletch come back she hands over Ella who she has just caught coming down the slide and heads to the bathroom, so Bernie follows her then pulling her into a family size changing room just before she reaches the toilets. 

Bernie locks the door and turns to look at Serena appreciatively but Serena stands their trying to cover her body with her arms, Bernie takes two large strides and envelops her into a hug; Serena slowly curls her hands from Bernie’s waist up to her shoulders and shivers now with cold. Bernie turns on the shower, walks them into it and waits silently until Serena looks at her; it takes a while but when she does there is uncertainty her eyes. “Serena I know that you think your body isn’t beautiful, but trust me when I say it isn’t beautiful.” Serena goes to turn away, she lowers her head and tears threaten to fall, Bernie stops her though. She lifts her chin and kisses her deeply when Serena finally gives in and kisses her back she lifts the undoes the sarong and lets it drop to the floor, everywhere her hands go her lips follow. Bernie tells Serena how spectacular (not beautiful) that piece of her body is; yes its sexually charged but they both know nothing like that will happen here. Serena knows that Bernie will wait until they are back home in their bed and start all over again, making sure that Serena believes that her body is a work of art and beautiful is no where near what she thinks it is. Eventually Serena sees and believes the truth in Bernie’s eyes; the way they flare up when she looks at her, how they darken when they come into contact, every morning when they wake up she sees the love in her eyes and not anything other than that. Bernie has never said a bad word about her body and they both know she never will.   
All said that Bernie currently has Serena pressed up against the wall under the shower, still kissing her as if life depended on it. “Bernie.” Serena sighs, Bernie smirks as she lifts her head and looks at her straight in the eye. “Thank you… But I think we need to go back to the children….hmmm?” Bernie hid her breathless face in Serena’s neck and nodded. Serena picked up her sarong, not putting it back on, unlocked the door with her hips swaying, leaving Bernie now trying to catch her breath, wondering how she is going to cope now the curves and cleavage is on full show.

When they get back, Fletch and Raf are wrapping the youngest of the group up in towels they are getting cold and slightly blue on their extremities, so are going to get them changed and play in the ball pool until the older ones are ready to leave. Bernie and Serena decide to go an play on the rides with them, the space bowl being one of them.   
The space bowl is a slide that is a steep straight drop that lands you into a spaceship which you go freely around in circles until you drop unceremoniously out of the bottom, if you try and force your way out you end up going head first or sideways out of the hole, but if you go with the flow then you go feet first and not soak the crowd that like to see the victims being thrown out.   
Bernie is first and slid out nicely and gracefully - ‘a first for me’ she thinks to herself. Serena second who tried but ended up making a small splash as she landed in the water bottom first. Jason too was very good and made the perfect exit, however the other (on purpose) Serena thought bombed it, soaking them all in the process, each person clapping and cheering as they came.   
They watched a few more before heading to the rainbow sides to race each other.

Serena and Bernie have Cam in the middle of them, the girls on Serena’s side and the boys on Bernie’s, the lifeguard counts them down and off the go all holding hands and flying in the air as they hit a small bump causing a wave of water hitting the passers by as they hit the bottom, all laughing and wanting to go again. In total they went down the rainbow slide 5 times, each time the waves getting bigger and bigger learning that if they lift their feet it causes a bigger splash, the crowd of adults and youngsters growing at the bottom waiting to be showered; counting them down before they push off to a cheer, some booing when Bernie suggested that they must be going soon, all shouting "one more slide”, of course the children pulled Bernie and Serena stating it is the final time.  
This time when they went down Jason suggested that they all cross their legs in the air, as they lie on their backs, Bernie and Serena going ever so slightly pulling them all down, that way the wave would be like a ‘V’ shape and in theory would make a bigger splash. All of the children agreed to Serena and Bernie sat next to each other for the final slide, everyone below giving them a countdown they were off, Jason was indeed correct, the wave was huge and nearly emptied out the bottom pool. Last slide done they headed to the changing rooms to get changed smiles on their faces and waves from the bystanders.

Fletch and Raf are sitting in the cafe, noticing that they were leaving and watching the last few slides, managing to video them after gaining permission from the management. The management setting up the party area for them all to have some food after learning they are all their to celebrate Cam’s birthday. They also arranged for an assortment of food to be cooked, pizzas, burgers and chips, lots of juice and coffee, everything that a child would want for their birthday. Raf and Fletch managed to sneak in a birthday cake too, not even telling Bernie or Serena; so when they get to the party centre not only is Cam surprised so is Bernie and Serena. The children all excited sit at the table, adults supervising and eating at either end, enjoying the games that have been organised by the team as well. Serena and Raf taking photo’s whenever they can.   
Bernie and Fletch are joining in with the games, Bernie dragging Serena in the latest game of musical chairs, Bernie’s hands never leaving Serena’s until they are fighting over the last chair, Serena getting their first and pulling Bernie onto the seat saying they are one person now. The children moaning as they share a quick kiss, Fletch is the first one to be caught out and then Charlotte, Serena and Bernie are next, Mikey wins this round as he was closest to the chair, Cam not getting anywhere near it, giving him a high five as a good sport for winning. The food was delicious, Bernie thanking the staff for everything, them handing tickets for them all to return free, as a gift to Cameron. Bernie couldn’t believe the way they have all been treated, as they leave they thank all of the staff, including the lifeguard at the rainbow slide for making Cam’s day perfect. 

At 7pm, later than any of them anticipated, they leave the waterpark. Theo and Ella are fast asleep in their dads arms, the kids exhausted and happy. Everyone says their goodnights, being careful not to wake the sleeping toddlers, they head back home. Cam still buzzing from his perfect day talking all the way home about his favourite parts of the day. Charlotte falling asleep, her head resting on Jason’s shoulder. Jason not far behind but managing to just about stay awake until he got home.   
Bernie carries a sleeping Charlotte to bed, Jason kisses Serena goodnight and heads to bed himself, while Cam sits and waits for Bernie and Serena on the sofa. When Bernie comes down Serena calls her into the living room, pats the seat next to her birthday boy and they both cuddle him. “Mums,” Cam says as he is being squashed, they let go a little “thank you for today, I have had the best day ever. I love you so much.” With that he heads unto bed saying goodnight leaving them on the sofa, happier than they have ever felt.

Bernie moves into the kitchen, grabs the open bottle of shiraz, two wine glasses, a tub of chocolate ice-cream and 2 spoons. Music put on low in the background they sit together on the sofa sipping wine and teasing each other with their ice-cream. De Ja Vu Bernie thinks a third of the way into the tub, from when they were on their ‘first date’. Bernie wants to recreate some of that atmosphere so she dips her index finger down the centre of the tub and offers it to Serena to lick off. Serena encloses her mouth over the offered finger all the way down to her knuckle; wraps her tongue around the digit and sucks as she pulls away, making a loud pop sound and humming as she goes. Bernie suddenly feeling very warm again. Serena sits there pleased with the effect she is having on Bernie, sips her wine and traces her tongue along the lip of the glass, fluttering her eyes at Bernie who now has lost all self control. She takes Serena’s glass from her hands and slams it down on the table along with the ice-cream and launches herself at Serena, she finally is doing what she wanted to do all day, make love to her girlfriend.


	26. Sunday is a day of rest, right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a busy day of celebrating, housework ensues and an unexpected visitor.

Bernie pinned Serena to the sofa, her hands and mouth was everywhere. Serena gasping at each new place Bernie touched or kissed, trying her best to get to the hem of Bernie’s top, she needs it off her body, now; but it is stuck, Bernie is pressing her so hard into the sofa their tops have fused through static and rolled together and stuck just underneath their breasts. “Bernie” Serena says loudly pulling Bernie’s lips away from her neck that she is currently invading, Bernie pulls back and starts to get off, her eyes widen thinking that there is something wrong she is just about to apologise when she sees Serena struggling to untangle their tops. Bernie whips hers off in one quick swoop, then helps Serena until they realise that maybe the sofa isn’t the best place to do this with 3 youngsters just upstairs that could magically reappear at a moments notice.   
“Bed, hmm?” Bernie pants, hands automatically squeezing Serena’s breasts, Serena lies there and nods, neither of them move not even eye contact is disturbed. Bernie lowers herself back on top of Serena and kisses her slowly and full of love with just a hint of lust. They need air, Bernie reluctantly pulls back and switches off the music, lights and locks the door, she comes back to find Serena still on the sofa, flushed red and panting, knowing she cannot move because if she does she will cum at the slightest touch. 

“Please.” She begs Bernie, her hands already undoing her trousers all while trying to pull them down just a little, Bernie kneels before her, tugs down the trousers and knickers, opens Serena wide and gives her one of the quickest and biggest orgasms of the night, having to hold a cushion over her face to hide the scream that comes with her violently shaking body. “Anybody would think you have been needing that all day!” Bernie smirks as she pulls Serena into her arms carrying her upstairs, still shaking through her orgasm, “I hope that I can still make you cum, because I have not finished with you yet.” Bernie whispers in her ear, one word for every step or stair she takes, Serena still not yet able to form a verbal answer so nods. Bernie throws her down on the bed and undresses herself, Serena looking at her through lidded black eyes, enjoying the display in front of her.  
“Come here.” Serena pants but Bernie shakes her head, “not for the minute, I want to get a little something first.” Serena smiles, she knows exactly what Bernie is going to get, the box under the bed opens, she gets the strap on out and fixes it tightly, Serena places a pillow under her hips and opens wide, Bernie lines it up, no waiting, no teasing, that is all that has happened all day. She lifts Serena’s knees slightly as she lowers the dildo in all the way then lets her knees go to their natural place, wrapped around her waist. Serena grabs Bernie’s arse, makes sure her nails are embedded in the tight firm buttocks and Bernie starts to move, steadily in and out at first. Soon becoming stronger and faster, Serena meeting her on most occasions, biting at Bernie’s shoulder to stop her from moaning loudly, not wanting to disturb the sleeping children. Bernie hides her face in the crook of Serena’s neck, they are so close to coming, Serena’s hands move up Bernie’s back to her shoulder blades and pulls her down as she cums, Bernie follows shortly after, having to take a few minutes to get her breath before moving off Serena.   
“Got the hang of it then!” Serena laughs into Bernie’s neck, she nods and pulls back. “Seems so Ms Campbell, I have had a good teacher after all.” Serena laughs and helps her to undo the straps. “Well you are only a good teacher if you have a good student.” Serena quips back, as she takes the strap on to wash it, Bernie not able yet to move off the bed. She is still smiling at the perfect day, not just for Cameron but for them too. Serena walks back in, puts the strap on back in the box and spoons Bernie, they kiss goodnight and fall asleep just like that.

Sunday is supposed to a day of rest unless you are 2 mothers to 3 children, a student, a teacher and have all the house work to do, having had a very busy day yesterday as they were celebrating Cam’s Birthday. The children played relatively well while they did the cleaning up, Serena taking upstairs, Bernie cleaning down; both doing the laundry, cooking dinner and washing the dishes. After dinner they all sat around the table, the children doing their homework, Serena marking and starting the next terms planning. Bernie is starting her assignment for her PGCE, along with some plans of her own after Henrik passing on what she will be doing the following week. She has this last week to do at the high school before finishing the rest of her training at the school under the watchful eyes of her girlfriend and Henrik. 

There is a knock at the door, it is the police officer, Officer Morton , that dealt with the case over Robbie’s theft and GBH, and a uniformed Constable who was introduced but Bernie forgot the name of straight away, focussing on Officer Morton. “Come in,” Bernie opens the door wider to let her in, “Serena can you come in the living room please.” Serena was about to moan when she sees Officer Morton and the Constable standing there looking rather worried. Bernie closed the door to the kitchen and the living room, asking the children to knock and waiting before coming in as they have a visitor, to which they all agreed and carried on with their homework. Bernie put the kettle on and made a pot of tea, took it in with the milk and sugar on the tray, forgetting to put the mugs on she had to go back in, both Officer Morton and Serena waiting until she sat down before starting.   
“Ms Campbell, Ms Wolfe, I have some rather disturbing news.” Bernie sat closer to Serena and Serena scrambled her hands in Bernie’s, holding on for dear life. The court case was going to be soon, he was out on bail and as far as they know he hasn’t been in touch. Officer Morton was passed an envelope with several sheets inside, some photos some with typed words on that wasn’t yet shown to them. The Officer showed them the first picture, it is of them playing at the park on Boxing Day in the snow, the second was taken yesterday at the water park, the third was of Jason at the high school with Fletch; it was taken just before they entered the school gates. Bernie wasn’t in the picture so it was presumed that Bernie wasn’t there until she explained to the officer that she was in the school that day and it must have been taken about 4:30 when they returned to pick her up. Officer Morton nodded and explained how the police had the pictures. “He had an inspection of his personal property, something we can do because he is on bail. And we found these on his phone, there was also a series of small letters typed up on his laptop too, that we have now seized. The problem is he actually hasn’t broken his bail conditions as he was at the required distance away from you all and to our knowledge he hasn’t actually contacted you.” Bernie and Serena both looked at each other, Serena cleared her throat and spoke with a tremor in her voice, “no, and we didn’t see him neither, otherwise we would have been in contact. Is there anything that we can do? It seems as though he is stalking us.” Officer Morton nods, he is stalking but as they were not aware there is very little they can do until a complaint is made. She explains this and apologises for the lack of influence the police have in the matter. “If you see him though, now you are aware, please do keep a written diary and let us know every time it happens, we too will keep a log. He has been instructed to stay away, but you know how he is.” Serena nods, tears forming in her eyes. Bernie pulls her in for a hug which she accepts, wrapping her arms around. 

But Officer Morton hasn’t moved, there is also one more piece of paper that hasn’t been shown. “What is that one?” Bernie asks, Officer Morton sits a little straighter and braces herself, “Ms Wolfe, I understand that your ex-husband is currently in jail for abusing you…..is that correct.” Bernie’s back straightens and Serena pulls back, she knows this but Bernie talks very little about her past. Bernie nods, “he is in HMP Bristol, I have had no contact with him since we were brought here with a protection order, only my solicitor has dealings with him. She is trying to finalise our divorce that he wont give consent for yet…….but the courts will grant me it without his permission because of his abuse, we have been waiting a while now.” Officer Morton nods, she hands over the last piece of paper which tells her ex-husband where she and her children are, which school they attend and recent pictures of them. Bernie flies up off the chair nearly knocking Serena over as she does. Officer Morton watches her carefully as she is muttering under her breath and has her fists clenched. Serena places herself in front of Bernie and holds her fists until she uncurls them to hold Serena’s hands. “How long is he in for?” Serena asks, “5 years but with good behaviour”. Officer Morton says and the two women watch her stumble. “With good behaviour what?” Bernie asks, “he has only been incarcerated for 6 months,” she was told that he would serve the full sentence but this obviously isn’t the case. “He could be out within a year if he keeps his nose clean and attends the anger management classes.” Bernie shakes her head, “you can’t be serious.” Serena pulls her to sit down, she turns to Officer Morton “what can we do now, regarding Mr Wolfe.” Bernie corrects Serena immediately “Mr Dunn.” ‘Sorry’ Serena mouths to Bernie not knowing or remembering that she didn’t take his name; Bernie nods and pulls her in closer. “Well I would speak to your solicitor.” Bernie nods, Serena grabs her notepad and pen from her handbag and makes notes. “I would get an injunction out for no contact with any of you, not just yourself.” Bernie tries to listen and take it all in but her head is fuzzy with memories of the last time he attacked her. The final attack that Cameron witnessed that left her with life threatening injuries. Serena notices this and pulls her back from the near panic attack, keeping her calm with soothing words, Officer Morton pouring a fresh cup of tea for them all and pausing with the options. Once Bernie was ready again they sat and talked through the options, luckily the children were not aware of any of it and then the officers left, leaving Bernie and Serena shocked at the recent revelations, both vowing not to let it have an impact on the children or their lives. To which they have to start making their teas and food for their lunch boxes tomorrow; they head back into the kitchen to find that they are all playing frustration, homework completed, all packed back in their bags, Jason’s bag packed just to his liking.

Tea was a quiet affair, both Bernie and Serena lost in thoughts of what happened previously, the children still tired from their action packed day yesterday and choosing to have an early night. Jason opts for a bath first, Charlotte sits with Cameron, Bernie and Serena are sitting on the sofa with them, all covered in a blanket watching children shows before they head to get a shower. “Kids, I have had word that your dad knows where we live now.” Charlotte hugs Serena tightly Cam just looks at her worriedly. “If you ever see him then you must let an adult know straight away.” The children nod, “what about Jason?” Cam asks worriedly. Serena leans forwards so she can look him in the eye, “we will speak to Jason shortly, we need to show him pictures of your dad, so if he sees him then he too can let an adult know straight away.” Cam nods, Charlotte is shaking in Serena’s side. “It will be alright you know, he can’t hurt any of you anymore.” Serena tries to reassure the young girl. Bernie continues to the other matter, “can you remember the police officer that came to the school that day, when we had all the doctors and nurses etc, the day that Raf came into school.” Both of the children nods, “well if you ever….EVER see Officer Medcalf again then you also must tell us.” Cam nods and Charlotte looks at her puzzled, as if she is trying to remember something. She shakes her head and then nods, Bernie notices what she did but lets it go for now. Jason enters and Cam heads up for his shower, Charlotte following behind him to get her uniform out for the next day, practical as ever.

“Jason, Bernie and I need to speak to you…….but I don’t want you to worry.” Serena waits for him to settle on the single chair, he switches off the tv, something he does when he really needs to concentrate. “I need you to think back to what Robbie, Officer Medcalf looks like.” Jason schools his face into thinking, he nods “I remember.” “If you ever see him again you must let an adult know straight away…..…OK?” All while Serena was telling him this Bernie was looking on her phone for a photograph of her ex-husband to show Jason. She found one on Facebook. Bernie handed over the phone to Serena, showing her the photo first, “I also need you to look at this photo too. It is of Cameron’s and Charlotte’s dad.” Jason takes the phone and studies it carefully, using his fingers on the screen to bring the photo closer into the males face to get a better picture. He hands the phone back when satisfied, “why do I need to look at this man?” He asked. Bernie takes over.  
“This man is currently in Jail for attacking me Jason. Both Charlotte and Cameron saw what he did and we had to move away, move here.” She gave him time to process the information, not wanting to overwhelm him. “He has found out where we live now and he shouldn’t have been told.” Jason asks the obvious question. “How does he know?” Bernie thinks of a answer but doesn’t know what to say so Serena tells him, always telling him the truth knowing how he reacts to lies. “Robbie has told him. He was very naughty to do so and is in a lot of trouble for it. So this is why if you see either of them, you must let an adult know straight away.” Jason takes Bernie’s phone again and looks at the photo once more, once satisfied he hands it back. “Aunty Serena, Aunty Bernie.” The ladies look at each other and for the first time that evening they smile “If I see…..” He thinks back for a name but it doesn’t come “Mr?” Bernie answers, “Mr Marcus Dunn.” “If I see Mr Dunn or Robbie, then I will let an adult know straight away.” With that he feels as though the conversation is finished, and it is, so he switches the tv back on and waits for Cam and Charlotte to come back down so they can have their usual hot chocolate and a biscuit before bed.

The are now children asleep, Bernie and Serena talk about the fact that Marcus could be released sooner than he should be and he knows where they are. “Will you want to move away?” Serena asks, hoping that the answer if yes is not too far away. Bernie thinks, looks at Serena intently before speaking, answering. “Yes,” Serena sighs but waits for the rest of the answer as she knows by now Bernie will speak when she is ready. “We said WE would move, if I can get the divorce through quicker we can mover quicker whether your house is sold or not. But……” Serena finds herself holding her breath. “Wherever WE choose to move, it has to be local, I don’t want to move the children schools again, I am happy where we are, are you?” Serena smiles and nods “very” is her answer. “Well then lets get looking, shall we start?” Bernie asks pulling out her iPad, going onto the right move website others are available). Putting in the area and looking at what there is to offer, saving the ones they like the look of as they signed up for when new properties come on the market. Wine glasses got and filled they talk about what to tell Henrik and the others at school, not forgetting to tell Raf too. They get some more photos picked ready and form a draft email to send, Bernie asking Fletch for Raf’s email address and gets an immediate response. Bernie explains and he tells them he will speak to Mikey and Evie too, just incase. All avenues covered for now, they head to bed, the alarm set for early in the morning, wanting to not get up late like last week. Sleep eludes them for a long while but they enjoy the quiet time in each others arms knowing that they are safe. 

For now anyway.


	27. Week 2 of Winter Term

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cameron has a few issues.

The first period Tuesday is when Bernie noticed that something wasn’t quite right, she hadn’t put her finger on it yet and it was annoying. She was sitting in class but it was empty, the science lesson should have started over 5 minutes ago but there was no sign of the teacher or her students. She checked and double checked her timetable, made sure she was on the correct week, correct room and yes she was, but still nothing. So she pops down to the receptionist and asks there, she has no clue, neither does the head of Science. She notes it down and heads to the staff room for a quick coffee and a text to Serena when she notices a gang of children all playing out in the field, with wind turbines on sticks, what looks like paper aeroplanes being thrown around. This looks like her class, no sign of any teacher yet as she walks through the fire door towards the children. As Bernie walks over to the field she spies a short red headed woman leaning agains the railings to the sports field, “Ah Ms Wolfe glad you could finally join me……us……..and here I was thinking my name around the school had scared you off.” Bernie looked at her with a smirk, “Ms Fanshaw I presume”, holding out her hand, “sorry I wasn’t told you were going to be in the field…….what can I do?” Fleur (Ms Fanshaw) took Bernies hand and shook it with a good solid handshake that made Bernie shake the blood flow back in afterwards and followed her further onto the field, where she starts asking questions regarding the wind force to her students. Bernie watches as the short, redheaded woman captures the children’s attention immediately, getting even the most nervous of students to answer and ask questions regarding physics. With 5 minutes to spare Bernie helps the children to carry over their equipment to the storage locker, then carry the next set out for the next group…….Bernie is thankful that today is dry and not too windy.

“Do you not like classrooms Ms Fanshaw?” Bernie asks with mirth in her voice. “It is not that I am not a fan, I just find that children learn a lot more if they are taught outside of a box, both the room and metaphorically. It can’t always happen and the children know that. But if they behave and do as I ask, they get to spend as much time out of the classroom putting theory into practice as possible or as the head allows.” Bernie nods, “I like your style Ms Fanshaw.” Bernie learns a lot from Fleur, the respect that the children have for her is in direct contrast to the maths teacher from yesterday and the previous week and many other teachers she has spent time with. “Ms Fanshaw…….” Bernie nervously asks as the last class of the day, Fleur puts down the stack of books she has collected and sits in her high backed padded chair, offering Bernie the chair next to her desk, Bernie leaning against the table instead. “May I ask if I can stay with you this week……I like your teaching style, a bit gung ho like me…..it’s the army in me, you see. Anyway, if we can, it would be great.” Fleur’s arms flies above her head, “thank goodness for that, yes that is fine, as long as you are willing to muck in. I am sure I can square it with the boss.” Bernie nods and waves goodbye as she leaves, today, has been an eye opener, knowing what sort of teacher she wants to be, if she ever gets these bloody assignments done.

Serena’s week was going well too, the school had started their Roman History Term that everyone seemed enthusiastic about including Jac, although she has already threatened Henrik that if she has to dress up as anything but the Queen and not some pauper, she will have him beheaded and she didn’t care if he was her boss or not! Serena immediately texting Bernie what had gone on in the staff briefing first thing on Tuesday Morning. Bernie replying with four crying emoji’s to Serena just before she spotted her new class in the field. She was also getting them prepared for their national tests coming up for literacy and numeracy (maths and English to us adults). They would be happening the week before Easter, in between then they had half Term and History Week to contend with, she didn’t believe in giving them any extra homework than they already have, so she took the plans she made over the weekend and told the children what was to come. Less reading time, less chill time, more time focusing on literacy and numeracy; the children all moaned in unison so she threatened them with extra homework which seemed to change their minds very quickly. She also had a new girl this term, Alicia. She has moved to the UK from Ghana with her parents one of whom would be starting at the hospital, so she says. Serena pairs her with Kelly and Jasmine, hoping that the girls would show her where to go, allowing them time to give a short tour of the school while she takes the register.

Thursday was worse for Serena, PE Day, getting changed in the store cupboard, she was missing Bernie. She spied her chance at lunch to ring her, hoping to make sure that Jason was ok too. His second visit to the school hopefully going smoother than last week and it was. Jason had settled into a class routine with Mikey, even managing to help him out on some maths and science classes; Bernie having Mikey and Jason in her lesson just before morning break-time, she was just waiting for him to meet her in the library. “Oh you should have seen Fletch’s face Serena when Mikey told him that if he calls him ‘Son’ or even that he actually knows him at all, he would show the baby pictures he found at the weekend, he even got his phone out and showed Fletch he had the pictures on his phone. I got a sneak peek, there was one of Fletch in the bath naked playing with a barbie doll. He was mortified” Serena was crying with laughter, Bernie honking making the librarian shush her, pointing to the ‘quiet please’ sign. Just as Jason appeared, Serena said goodbye and let Bernie go; not wanting to change any plans they had made. She was a lot lighter after that, even took part in a game of netball, allowing Miss Shreve to act as referee. Serena loves the help from her new assistant, she always seems one step ahead of the children and knows what is going on with all of the children with at home and at school; so when she saw Cameron struggling in class and at break time she immediately spoke to Serena about it. She had spotted Cameron by the school railings looking out as if he is in search for someone; one of the dinner ladies told Morven that he had been like that all week and for him it is strange behaviour as he is usually playing football with his team mates. Morven walked over to Cameron and asked him what he was looking for, he just shrugged his shoulders and looked out of the school from the middle of the playground. During the extra numeracy lesson that afternoon, Serena pulled Cameron to one side saying he had a reading assessment to do; he got up, collected his book and followed Serena to the reading sofa. “Oh Cam, please tell me what is wrong, you haven’t been yourself all week. Is about your dad?” Cam’s eyes welled up with tears, he just stuck his head in Serena’s shoulder quietly crying. Serena waited until he settled, whispered in his ear to quickly go to the nurture room and when Mr Hansen comes here she will be coming to him. He nodded, and did exactly as he was told but it was Henrik that sat with Cameron while she finished numeracy with her class.

Mr Hansen knocks on the door signalling his entry, Cam looked up and sighed with relief after looking out of the large window onto the roadside, “afternoon Sir. Ms Campbell sent me here.” Henrik nodded and patted the chair next to him, he gave him a drink of juice and some of Ms Naylor’s secret stash of chocolate biscuits, as he handed them over his request was clear, “don’t tell on me now Mr Wolfe otherwise she will have my heart in her hands, squeezing it tightly.” Cameron finally laughed knowing how protective Ms Naylor is over her biscuits. “Yes sir, our secret only because I don’t want to be doing cross country for the whole of PE next year.” A smile that reached Henrik’s eyes “of course, that will take you away from football practice and sprinting.” He left it a few moments before speaking again. “So I hear your dad knows where you are, is that right?” Cameron looks down and his shoulders tense, the grip on his plastic cup is so strong he crushes it and spills the left over juice all over the floor. “It is ok Mr Wolfe, you are safe here and he is still in prison.” Cam nodded, got up to the window and looked out with concern, “but officer Medcalf is out there, Jason said it was him that told my dad where we were, why would someone who is supposed to protect us do that? Put my mum in danger?” ‘Ah that is the issue, not concerned for his or Charlottes safety, but the safety of his mum.’ The internal lightbulb moment goes off in the headmasters head. “Take a tour with me Mr Wolfe and I will show you.”   
Cameron follows as instructed.  
“Come into the office and sit in Miss Harrison’s office for a minute.” He takes the spare chair and looks around while Henrik sits on Essie’s chair, he moves the mouse around and points to the flat screen tv on the wall. “You see this?” Cam nods, he stands to take a closer look to the 5 mini screens on the tv screen. “This shows me anyone that needs entry to the school, from 8am until 5:15pm, from 9.15am until 3:15pm the gates all around are locked.” He points to each gate in turn. “The only way in is if one member of staff buzzes them in, but they must show their ID to gain entry. Or if it is a member of staff, they could use their new ID card to gain entry.” There is a driver that delivers the food to the canteen, he arrives. Cam and Henrik watch on the tv screen as he gets out of his cab, presses the buzzer, Henrik asks for his ID to which he shows, then he is buzzed in. “See Cameron, the gates wont open unless either Miss Harrison or any other teacher presses this button. In the morning I am going to be by the gate, only nursery and Year 1 parents allowed in to drop off or pick up children, the rest will have to wait here, and in turn all of the staff will be out here, making sure that all of you are safe. Even the lollipop lady is going to help us.” Cameron nodded, watched as he could see exactly where the delivery driver went, the middle screen following him as he moved from camera to camera. Henrik could see the tension leave Camerons shoulders, even more so when he took him on a tour of the school showing where each camera is, everywhere except for the cupboards and toilets and he explains the reasons for this, the cupboards have no windows and it is not right to put the camera’s where peoples private areas will be on show. “Thank you sir. I feel a lot better now, can I come to you if I feel like this again?” Mr Hansen puts his hand on his shoulder guiding him back to the classroom. “Mr Wolfe, my door is always open, for whatever reason you have for coming through it, just please always knock first unless it is an emergency then you can burst through the door.” With that Cameron sprinted the last few yards to his classroom, Henrik followed and watched as he settled at his desk, carrying on with his numeracy work, giving Ms Campbell a nod to say all is ok.

Thursday after school is when all 3 of the children have after school clubs until 4:30pm. Charlotte has gymnastics and she is excited to see the tumble mats out, the ribbons, ball and the hula hoop; one for each area. Charlotte picks her mat that she shares with Liv and they start to make a dance routine up using the various pieces of equipment as the music to Jungle Books “I want to be like you” plays in the back ground on loop.  
Jason is in Science with Mr Griffin, they are looking at the solar system, seeing what gases are on each planet and why it wouldn’t be suitable for humans to live in there, or why water isn’t on each planet. Jason is surrounded by books and his note pad that is covered with pictures of his favourite planet Jupiter and all of its 16 moons with names written underneath all in size order too. Jason tries to look up how many know moons Jupiter has, he has counted possibly 60 so far, but there is speculation that there is unto 72. They haven’t yet decided which ones are asteroids that are trapped in Jupiters gravity or are full moons so he tells his fellow class mates. He also looks up the Greek mythological names for them, writing a detailed description for each in his notebook.  
Cameron is kitted out in his football kit, it is match day and they are playing another local school at home, he is playing Centre forward as he has a quick sprint, Mr Copeland is in charge today with Mr Digby, although Mr Digby is mainly planning attacks and defences, instructing the team before they start and half time on a old style chalk board, shouting out if they are in the wrong place during the match. Cam is delighted he scored one out of the 3 goals, they win 3-1, giving a handshake to the losing team as they leave the pitch to get changed.

At the end of their activities they meet Serena at the staffroom, she is washing the last of the staff dishes; she hands them a glass of juice and gets them to sit while she empties the bins. She had a meeting with Mr Hansen regarding her new teaching assistant as Bernie is now officially a trainee teacher and will be moved around each class as told. She is glad to say she gets to keep Morven and there will be a new voluntary teaching assistant starting in a few weeks once their DBS check comes back. The new teaching assistant will also move around as and where necessary, mainly be based with Miss Effanga as she becomes bigger and less mobile as the terms progress.   
Drinks all drank, glasses washed, dried and put away they head home. Cameron a lot more settled than he has been the past few days. “Serena, you know I love you don’t you, not as much as I love my mum but nearly as much, I love having Jason as a step brother too.” Serena was just about to reply saying she feels the same but Jason got there first. “Aunty Serena loves you too Cam, and Charlotte, just as much as she loves me……But I am sure she loves your mum much more, but in a different way.” He is right in one respect and she tells him so, “I don’t love Bernie more than you guys, just the same…….but it is a different kind of love…….and I hope she feels the same too.” Charlotte pipes up loudly and with passion. “She does Serena, she really loves you, she smiles when you’re around, she watches you all the time, I know she loves us too, but she really loves you.” The hard week that they have had just seems to wash away in the short car journey home.

They arrive home on that Thursday to find Bernie already in the kitchen, preparing dinner, chicken tortilla’s tonight, they get to build their own, there is already a selection of salad and vegetables laid out in dishes, the tortillas are warming and Bernie is slicing the cooked chicken breasts. The children rush upstairs to get dressed and Serena spends her time kissing Bernie’s neck from behind until she can turn and face her; unable to use her hands because of the juices from the chicken, Bernie uses her forearms to wrap Serena tightly into a welcoming passionate kiss until the thunderous footsteps of the children signal their descent. Bernie takes a deep breath and goes back to finishing off their tea while Serena busies herself making drinks for them all; tea for Bernie and Serena and juice for the children after they reel off what their preference is from the living room watching something or other.   
Dinner goes well, Serena talks about her meeting with Hansen, Cam tells about the football game they won, Charlotte tries to explain her dance routine then promises to show them all next Thursday, when they have practiced a bit more. Jason tells them about the Greek names and their meanings, Bernie wonders what exactly he is talking about until Serena just says “Jupiter”. “Ah yes, the many moons of Jupiter.” Finally mentally caught up. They watch as Jason becomes more adventurous with the food he puts in his tortilla, it used to be just cucumber and lettuce. He now puts sweetcorn in, peppers of all colours and enjoys a dribble of tomato sauce to which Serena always curls her nose at but it is his choice so she lets him be.

They decide on a film, forgoing a shower just this once apart from Cameron, who needs one from sweating he has done from the football game. Serena prepares the popcorn and fruit snacks, as they sit down to watch ‘Show Dogs’ all tucked in under Charlottes duvet on the sofa. Bernie making a mental note to make sure their new sofa, in their new house will be bigger. The film now over, the children head to bed to read as per their usual bedtime routine. Bernie and Serena clean up the kitchen, prepare a glass of wine and settle the kids down before having a peaceful hour on the sofa. 

“Cameron was upset today at school, he was worried apparently that Marcus is going to come and hurt you again. He was on look out at playtime. All week apparently.” Bernie tenses, knowing that at the moment they are safe and why her son is so concerned, “he shouldn’t have to worry about this Serena, he is a child…..what he has seen is so.” Serena rushes up to her side, places her fingers to shush her girlfriend up. “Henrik spoke to him, showed him how safe the school is, that his door is always open for him if he needs to talk and that we all are there to look out for you, for us.” Bernie nodded, she knew that Serena or any of the staff would have sorted it before he left school and was grateful for it, for everyone having their backs.  
“Thank you……I love you.” Serena places a soft kiss to her lips. “I love you too.”


	28. Friday and Swimming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bernie finds out an interesting fact about Serena in her past.

They wake up early Friday morning, it is the last day for Bernie at the High School, the last day learning from Fleur. Fleur has been so much of an inspiration she has focussed on her off the wall teaching methods for the latest assignment; showing that learning doesn’t have to be in a classroom, that it can be anywhere within reason. Bernie had written up the classes that she had taken, learning outcomes hoping to have, what they actually achieved and had backed it up with evidence to prove that the bottom level science students have achieved beyond what was expected of them just in the first 2 terms alone. So much so they are doing work higher than the middle set now.   
Fleur at lunch takes her out to the pub for lunch to talk over things without un-approving ears around and with an extra thick binder that is full to bursting. “I have copied all of my lesson plans for the past term and work that the children did as a result. Yes it will be higher than primary school where you will go on to next, but it shows curriculum structure and out of the box ideas to support the learning outcomes. Take it with you, look through it and let me know what you think, if it what you need for your coursework and for your lesson plans in the near future. I have put my home and mobile number on the inside, so you can call me at anytime. Even if it is for a drink. Anyway, I have been wondering something….this Serena of yours…….is she our age, and was McKinnie?” Bernie dropped her cutlery as Fleur drawled out Serena’s maiden name, Bernie nodded in disbelief. “How did you know?” Fleur chuckled, her eyes went full of mirth as she explained that her and Serena McKinnie got up to lots of trouble along with their good friend Sian Kors, she explains about Serena’s excellent attempts to pole dance while they were having fun in Ibiza on their last holiday together before they graduated. “Oh Bernie, you should have seen her…….she had all the men putting Pesetas in her underwear thinking she was a professional pole dancer……we got kicked out after 10 minutes and 3 song changes.” Bernie flushed, her eyes darkened as she had a very bright and vivid vision of Serena in tight clothes twirling around a pole in her high heels. Fleur waved her hands in front of Bernie’s face, says her name several times but nothing, she is still in a trance. Only Serena’s special ringtone brings her out of it, breathily answering it, trying to keep some sort of normalcy. Lunch is soon over and they need to head back for soon the final 3 lessons of the day.

Serena rang because she had an issue, she had promised to take the children swimming after school but she had put the costumes in the wrong car, Bernie’s car and Bernie had to take her car to the garage for a service and change of tyres, as it was close to the High School she turned down a lift from Fletch to take it in herself. “I will meet you there, it isn’t a problem. Oh and I think we have an extra 2, but I will have to take them home to pick their swimming stuff up on the way, so I may be 5 minutes later after you arrive.” Serena signals that would be ok, she would put up with Jason’s moaning and she hangs up, glad that one less problem to worry about. 

Things today haven’t been going all that well, the new girl Alicia was struggling in class, answering questions incorrectly in French mainly in literacy which was their topic for the morning; when Serena looked at her file there was no mention that English was her second language and French was her first, she asked Essie to contact her parents to find out. It was true, her first language was French, she knew a little English but not a lot. Luckily Serena and Morven were both fluent in French so could translate the question if and when needed to, but she made a note to speak to Henrik to get Alicia some extra support. He approves and puts some policies and practices in place ready to take to the board of governors.   
The afternoon went so smooth she could hardly believe it. All of the children’s small tests went extremely well and passed above average needed for their age group, they even had extra play time and chapter of the book that she wasn’t sure she was going to get in, but as the children worked so hard she decided to treat them all, getting Morven to nip to the nearby shop to get treat size chocolates for them all as a ‘well done’. There was a few left over so she stored some away for Bernie and the kids; she and Morven had one each too. 

In assemble they were the class of the week, with full attendance and for the work that they had crammed in, Serena allows Morven and 2 children to go and get their certificate, earning them all another chocolate each, they were on a roll. All she needed now was her Bernie back at school where she belonged, even though it wouldn’t be back in her class for a while. Serena stood at the gates waiting for Alicia’s parent to arrive, when they did she invited them both into the nurture room to chat about extra help that Alicia will need. “Mr and Mrs DuPoint, I understand that Alicia knows very little English, so most of her work will be done in French, however I would like it if you would help Alicia if she was to bring some work home. It will be basic words to start off, spelling and pronunciation. There are also several websites that may help too, Mr Hansen will be signing her up so she can work at home and at school. Is this ok?” Mr DuPoint looked unhappy, “Madam Campbell, will this affect her test results?” Serena smiled, shook her head, we are trying to get permission to get the tests done in French for now, but if you encourage her to work hard at her English she will be fluent in both languages in no time. We don’t want her to neglect her French, in fact I am hoping to encourage her learning.” Mr DuPoint shook Serena’s hand thanking her for her support, telling her that they too will be doing the English tasks with their daughter, Mrs DuPoint rubbing her belly that looks as if she is about 6 months pregnant. His English is very good Serena noted, but then again it would have to be if working in the NHS. With that they leave, Serena finds the children waiting for her in the reception area all eager to get to swimming. She collects her bag from the staff room and packs them all like herding sheep in the car, talking about their day on the way to the local swimming baths, she is hoping that she can just sit on the side reading her book, that Bernie would go in.

No such luck for Serena, Bernie needed to finish off her assignment and send it to her lecturer before tonights deadline, hoping that it would be just good enough for a decent pass mark; the assignment was about different learning styles and ways to communicate effectively if a child is struggling or has a learning/physical disability. The assignment itself is written, she just wants to edit it in places with new information she has researched thanks to Fleur. Having to learn how to document and footnote everything in order which is really not her strong point, thankful that it is Serena’s, who has spent lots of time showing her, well doing it for her this time. So with her swimming costume on Serena heads into the pool with their children, Evie and Mickey too. She spends most of her time swimming up and down in the lanes, keeping an eye on them as they are happy to play amongst themselves where they can all stand. Jason joins her when the others go on slides, he doesn’t like the open windy ones that are at this swimming pool, he worries that he will fall out even though she has promised him that he wouldn’t. 

Bernie finishes and sends off her assignment and decides to also get changed to join them swimming as they have plenty of time left; she spots Serena swimming up the lane so walks the long way around so when she gets to the top they meet just at the right time for Bernie to dive over her head, Splashing Serena in the process. “Who the bloody hell………..oh you show off, I will get you!” Serena’s face turns from anger to mirth in about 2 seconds after realising to was Bernie that jumped over her head, after she hovered in the spot just to give Serena a smirk and her salute, Serena sped off down the lane as fast as she could to catch up to Bernie, who got to the bottom before she did, pulling her in close, Serena thankful that Jason returned to the kids as their hands underwater were not where they were supposed to be for public viewing.  
“Erm I think the kids will be fine if we get out and grab a shower.” Serena requests almost getting herself out of the pool by the ladders when Bernie pulls her back by her hips, back in close to her she breathes in Serena’s ear, “I have only just got in, I thought we could swim together, well you in front so I can admire the view.” Serena smirks at Bernie who is wiggling her goggles, gives her a quick kiss on the cheek and pushes off the wall, does dolphin feet while swimming underwater about a third of the way down, it takes that long before Bernie’s brain catches up and goes after her, about 2 strokes off the far wall Bernie catches Serena and tugs on her ankle hard so Serena is dragged underneath her, Serena turning underwater just as Bernie’s breasts reach hand height and her revenge is a firm squeeze to them, even manages to get the nipple on one side making Bernie splutter as she holds on to the side.   
Bernie heads off first this time wanting to give Serena a nice view, Serena decides against swimming down instead she gets out of the pool via the steps, waves the children over tells them to behave while they are going to get a shower, and to meet them in the reception as soon as they are finished, “at 5pm sharp I want you out of here, that gives you 20 minutes alone, If you do that we shall go to pizza hut for tea.” They all high five and Serena with a little extra sway knowing that Bernie is watching, she heads to her locker to get her shower stuff, Bernie does a few more laps until she sees Serena return and head to the shower cubicle.

*Knock knock* “Serena it is me.” Serena opens the door and was about to say something quirky when, “……UMPH” Serena closes the door and drags Bernie in making sure their lips join properly for the first time since they left the house, no their bedroom this morning. Bernie’s hands firmly planted on Serena’s bare backside squeezing and kneading. Serena fumbles while trying to lock the door, finding Bernie is trying to pull her under the shower that decides at that point to switch itself off, Serena then tries to find the button blindingly to turn it back on again as they still haven’t parted from their hungry desperate kiss.   
“We need to.” Serena says between kisses, pointing to the shower bag on the floor, Bernie finally breaks the kiss and pours some 2 in 1 shampoo on her hands, Serena turns to face the shower, keeping one of her hands on the button constantly and the other on Bernie’s hip keeping her as close as can be, as she massages her scalp using her blunt short nails to scratch making Serena tingle all over. Bernie is so close her breasts are tickling Serena’s back making her moan even more.   
They wash each other, making sure that all erogenous zones are barely touched only for necessary cleaning, this really is not the time and place for that; once all clean and lips thoroughly kissed they head back to the changing room to get dressed, Bernie again sneaking into Serena’s cubicle. ‘This woman hates to get dressed in her own cubicle or room, something about being an army girl,’ Serena thinks to herself all while enjoying Bernie stark naked, rubbing her back and hair dry.

At 5pm on the dot, the watch as the kids head out of the pool, of course they don’t shower, they head to the changing rooms all starving hungry and wanting to eat as soon as possible. The prospects of a hot and tasty pizza more outweighs a shower as far as the children are concerned, they have one at home anyway and Jason would always prefer to shower at the privacy of his own home. So the five of them head out to meet Bernie at the reception as Serena decided to take her car home. Bernie and the children are going to follow her home, pic Serena up and then they were off into town to grab their pizza’s.   
“Mum,” Charlotte yawned out, “Can we order the pizza’s to take away, then Mickey and Evie can sleep over if they like, I am so tired.” Bernie nods “thats fine Charlotte, hope you are all ok with that?” Mikey as cheeky as ever “pizza is pizza, doesn’t matter where we eat it.” Bernie send a quick text off to Serena before she starts the car, with the change of plans and see what she wants on her pizza knowing she would want the 11” stuffed crust supreme with chicken, olives, pepperoni, onions and peppers, with a side order of garlic bread for her and Bernie to share as always. Bernie always went for the pepperoni while the children had chicken and sweetcorn or just plain cheese and ham with 2 side orders of garlic bread. Serena ordered and paid on the app she has on her phone, it was already for Bernie to collect. After she had spoken to Jason who answered Bernie’s phone while she was driving asking what drinks the children wanted, she was going to speak to Fletch to make sure it is ok for the kids to stay over and if it was she would pull out the camp beds and make them ready for bedtime.  
Food picked up and brought home they all sat in the living room, Jason with his new little portable table Bernie had brought him for such occasions, knowing that he doesn’t like eating on his lap, he would rather sit on the table in the kitchen alone and Bernie really doesn’t want that so this was their compromise and a plate of course.

Charlotte headed off to bed as she is tired and complaining of a headache. Serena dosed her up with Call and tucked her in bed. The others stayed up and watched a film, while Bernie and Serena chat in the kitchen about Bernie’s recent gathering of information. It was making her blush and stutter just at the thought. Serena could sense something was troubling, well not troubling Bernie exactly but had her off kilter since they were in the shower together earlier. Serena slides her hand high on Bernie’s thigh and squeezes it as a sign to say I am listening and I know what has been going through your mind. She has no clue what Bernie was thinking, she couldn’t of and when Bernie mention that she heard on the grapevine that she was a good pole dancer, Serena spat her wine all the way across the table making Bernie blush a darker shade of crimson and chuckle as Serena now babbled “ho…..wha….oh…..who……..yes!” The yes was a resigned yes as Bernie already knew by her actions it was true. “I was very drunk.” Serena started to say but Bernie’s raised ‘I don’t believe you eyebrows’ and smirk said she knows she wasn’t telling the truth. “Well not very drunk…….maybe barely drunk……” The eyebrows still raised but with a little sass in them now, Bernie was getting closer to the truth. “OK I was sober, but it did pay for our drinks for the rest of the night……then I was completely drunk.” Bernie lent to Serena’s ear after wiping up the wine off the table and sucked on her lobe before requesting that she shows her sometime, “sometime soon.” Serena’s breath hitched at the request, she found herself nodding, saying yes to pole dancing for Bernie and sometime soon. They lock eyes, neither of them can move, they have been like that for minutes, it must have been as the film is now over, the kids are saying their goodnights which manages them to finally look away from each other. They follow the children shortly afterwards, giving them enough time to get to sleep.

Sitting on the sofa, they sit apart, Bernie putting cushions between them, leaning on the arm and not towards Serena who has done the same; they drink the remnants of their wine while looking over the rim of the glass at each other, swirling it around using the stem of the glass, both replicating each others actions. Its a game they play, not always as pent up as this, this has been building since Fleur told Bernie about Serena’s pole dancing days. Then seeing Serena in a swimming costume again and afterwards naked in the shower, they are very lucky they didn’t go upstairs and completely rip each other apart while the children were downstairs eating pizza. 

Serena takes it one step further, she slowly undoes the buttons on her shirt, she never got changed after swimming so she was still in her ‘school teachers’ outfit as Bernie likes to call them. Bernie plays along she rolls her sleeves three quarters of the way up her strong forearms, grips and pumps at her ankle showing off the strong muscles beneath the skin; Serena’s eyes never leave them until Bernie stretches her back, making her white shirt pop open a few buttons on the top, now showing Serena that she didn’t put her bra on after swimming.   
How on earth did she miss that bit of information?   
Her eyeline is perfect for seeing Bernie’s erect nipple standing happily to attention just begging to be touched through the gap in her shirt. Bernie rolls towards her to get up, her shirt gaping further open showing both perfect round globes, as soon as Bernie knew Serena had her fill she sauntered up switching off the t.v, the lights, she locks the door and walks upstairs, Serena scrambles to get up to follow her; hoping to god she and Bernie can keep the noise down tonight.


	29. House Search and Family.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go a bit pear shaped, they go in search for a house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, really not been well.  
> Hope you still enjoy this chapter, sorry for any mistakes not spotted xx

Mikey and Evie were picked up early as football practice was on for Mikey and he didn’t want to miss the first practice of the season, telling Cam he will ask his coach to see if there are any spaces available for him to join but he would be in a different team as he was older and they went in school years for each team. Evie too wanted to head into town to do a spot of shopping with her friends, maybe even a movie, enjoying the freedom and independence that came with being a teenager.

In the week Serena agreed to the valuation for her house and signed the paperwork so her home could go on sale. Today she just needed to take all of the clutter and her personal items out so any viewings could be anonymous especially with recent events; Robbie was still on bail and she wasn’t taking any chances. So Cam and Charlotte helped Jason with his room, packing things into boxes that have been clearly labelled not to cause him any distress, Serena thankful that Cam and Charlotte listen and go along with his ways of doing things without anything being said. If Charlotte did disagree and see an easier way she would put it to him gently and not make him feel stupid for not thinking about it in the first place. They were trying to pack his books, Jason wanted to put them in order like they are displayed on the shelf alphabetically, Charlotte pointed out that some of his encyclopaedias should be in number order, she showed him where the little numbers were, he nodded and said that made more sense as he didn’t understand why they could be alphabetically arranged and numerically until Charlotte showed him that common letters had more than one volume, hence the need for numbers. Serena really loved to watch the three of them interact like this. No animosity just friendship and love, more importantly understanding; there were a lot of people that Jason has met that didn’t understand him, they just thought he was being difficult for being difficult sake.

Serena decided to take her bedroom, Bernie did the bathroom and laundry room. Taking most of the items across to her house, making room for Serena’s endless amounts of body lotions, shampoos, conditioners. ‘More than the average shop have in stock’, Bernie thought. She packed a plastic box and took it through the garden and unpacked it wherever it should go. Bernie had almost finished the laundry room when she went to see how Serena was getting on, only to find her sitting on her bed in tears. She had opened the draw full of Ellies things; mainly letters and pictures that she drew her mum over the few years that she lived. Her first pair of shoes, small boxes containing her first tooth and lock of hair after being cut at the hairdressers at the age of 3, as she was so blonde it was almost as if she was bald. Serena told Bernie of how she sat so well on her knee up until she needed her fringe cut, the falling hair tickled her nose and she was constantly shaking her head and ended up with a small notch in her fringe. "Both the hairdresser and me were laughing so much as she pulled this face Bernie….oh she was so cute, even if I do say so myself. The hairdresser was never going to get a straight fringe with out laughing and Ellie shaking her head every time she touched her forehead.” Bernie chuckled, wiped Serena’s tears away and promised her that these special things can be put under the bed, she will go and fetch a special memory box from in town to put them in. Serena was grateful for Bernie, she never felt sorry or said she understood the pain she was in, but she always knew what to say or do to make it that little bit easier, little things like a keepsake box and not just a old shoe box or two.

The packing continued. 

Serena packed all of her spare clothes into suitcases and took them over to Bernie’s, some went into storage, the more fancier stuff, quite a lot went into a black bag for the charity shop as there was nothing wrong with them but she knew she would never wear them again as Robbie purchased most of them. Jason too had a sort out of his clothes, most of which were already over at Bernie’s, he kept looking at this jumper. He picked it up, then put it back in the drawer as if he didn’t know what to do with it. It looked far too small for even Charlotte never mind Jason. Cam went to pick it up but Jason snatched it before he could touch it, he moved it to the other end of the room. “Jason, is that a special jumper? Can I have a look and do you want to tell me about it?” Jason looked confused at Cam for a while, he took the jumper and studied it carefully, as if he is trying to decipher what it was. “I wouldn’t say it was a special jumper as there are no special jumpers. But this is the last present my mum ever brought me. It was a Christmas gift, the last Christmas we spent together before she died.” Cam walked to his side, looked at the jumper with him. It had small teddy bear on the front, it was knitted and handmade, maybe homemade as there was no label that Cam could see. “A jumper can be special Jason because it has special memories that go with it. Any piece of clothing really. That is why some people hand down clothes or more than one person wears it, a bit like mine and Charlotte’s christening dress. It was my mums before ours, and I am sure that grandma wore it to her christening too.” Cam allowed Jason time to process what he was saying, he carried on packing but stayed close to his friend, almost brother. Jason quietly packed the jumper in his suitcase to take to Bernie’s and continued to pack his things, quickly tossing the clothes to one side if they no longer fitted.

Charlotte took down all of his posters carefully, rolled them up and put all of the bluetac in a ball. She had found a picture of him and his mum as a baby, one of the few photo’s he had. As she took it down carefully she stumbled backwards sending the picture flying in the air, Cam managed to catch it but Charlotte stumbled off the box, fell backwards, took a hard bump to the head, as it hit the corner of the dressing table. Jason shouted for Bernie and Serena as there seemed to be a lot of blood coming from the wound, Jason starting to panic at the sight. He was crouched down in a ball, tapping his leg. Serena and Bernie both sat Charlotte up and covered the wound with the nearest thing they could reach, Jason’s discarded clothes. Cam froze on the spot with the picture hanging in his hand, watching his sister almost drain a white-greyish colour and then see the blood drop down her face and all over his mum; he passes out right in front of Jason which sends him into an even bigger panic episode. 

Bernie called for and ambulance while keeping Charlotte in her arms holding the shirt in place, Serena placed Cam’s feet on a box that Charlotte fell off when she realised why he fainted, and sat next to Jason trying to calm him down, so he can leave the room before the paramedics got there. This didn’t happen, he was already too far gone and with Charlotte and Cam still unconscious he was unable to bring himself out of it even with Serena’s soothing and comforting words. They were still there, looking like when he saw his mum for the last time, he thought she was asleep on the bed, unfortunately not. 

Bernie ended up carrying Charlotte downstairs as they heard the closing sirens, managing to open the door as they walked up the path. The paramedics looked at Charlotte while Bernie sprinted back upstairs to see how Jason and Cam are. Cam is coming around and Jason is still in full blown panic mode, she sends Serena down to tend to Charlotte and she tries with Jason, she pulls Cam up onto her knee, sitting him up at the same time making sure he hasn’t hurt anywhere when he fainted. He has no bumps and is not wincing when she looks at him, so she knows he is well will be fine; her attention is given to Jason.   
“Jason I need you to listen to me ok.” She waits to see if Jason slows in his tapping, he does but only slightly. “Charlotte is ok and awake, she is with Serena and the paramedics, Cam is ok too, he is waking up. Have a look if you like.” Cam manages to moan an “I am ok Jason.” Which prompts Jason to lift his head to see for himself. The relief in his face is seen immediately, “would you like to see Charlotte before she goes to have her head stitched? Would you like to go with her too?” Jason nodded, his tapping continued as he walked downstairs and into the kitchen where the shirt was replaced by a tea towel and now a bandage. Charlotte smiled the minute she saw him, Serena was glad to see that her nephew was settling. Jason opted for them all to go to the hospital, he wanted to make sure that Charlotte was ok and Cam too. He asked the the paramedics to check Cam over as he fainted, noticing the young boys distress and Serena previously explaining his condition when Bernie left and sent her down, they did, declaring he was fine, showing him all of the things on the screen, then doing the same for Charlotte, reassuring Jason that she too was ok; but needed to go to the hospital to get her head glued and check for concussion. 

“Aunty Bernie, what is concussion?” Jason asked as she packed Jason and Cam into the car, Serena going with Charlotte in the ambulance. Bernie tried her best to explain, “her brain inside has been shaken a bit and was like an yolk inside of an egg. The outer bit isn’t broken but the insides maybe a little damaged, but we wont know until later. Charlotte maybe a little sick which is one of the signs of concussion but as long as she is talking, she will be ok.” Jason accepted the answer but then asked how can they see if Charlotte’s brain was damaged. Bernie hoped that Raf was working in children’s A&E today, he would be able to explain the working of a CT scan and a MRI scan better than she ever could. She did try to explain but in the battlefield there wasn’t any need when out in the desert. There was one of each in the field hospital, but she was very rarely in there always opting to go out to fetch the war wounded in, to treat before they even get on a truck to head back to the field hospital at the barracks. This way of working saved many more lives than waiting, even risking her own life in some circumstances. 

She was just pulling onto the car park, as Jason asked his final question. “Why are they going to glue Charlotte’s head. Couldn’t we do that at home with some super glue? We could have just got some from the shop if you didn’t have any in, actually I am sure Aunty Serena has some in her tool box under the stairs.” Bernie tried not to laugh as it was a logical question to ask. “I will let you ask Raf that one if he is in today. He will let you know.” Jason was happy to wait for a medical professional to answer any of his questions, he wondered what A&E was like, he never remembered ever being there, only on the ward when Charlotte had her appendix out.   
Bernie asked at reception, they pressed a button to let her and the kids in, asking a nurse to take them to her daughter, she hears the rough Scottish voice of her friend saying he will take her there, the nurse smiles and lets her down the corridor where Raf greets her with a hug for Bernie and handshakes off the boys; Jason wasted no time with his bombardment of questions all of which Raf answered, promising him a tour of the department if they remained quiet and after he made sure that Charlotte was ok.  
Charlotte was given the all clear but an incoming trauma meant that Raf had to leave the tour for another time, promising Jason he will take them on his day off one time in the near future, they headed back to Serena’s to finish off what they had started, stopping for a subway on their way home as they were all hungry.

 

It is now teatime and they are all sitting around the table tucking into spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread. They are talking about what they want in their new house, the boys reiterating they want a games room, a large back garden, Jason would like a shed. “Hang on where did that come from?” Serena asked Bernie who was just as bewildered at her girlfriend. Charlotte wanted a room where she could have bunk beds, one where there is a bigger bed a the bottom and a normal one at the top; she wanted a place where she could read, like in Serena’s classroom, her very own reading corner with a chair big enough that they could all cuddle on and bean bags. Charlotte was simple, she wanted to read, sing and act out her favourite books or films, she had ‘The Greatest Showman’ playing on loop in her bedroom whenever she plays in there; Serena and Bernie are sick of hearing ‘This is me!’ blaring out downstairs however at least she sings it in tune. “I want her room soundproofed.” Bernie whispers in Serena’s ear making her giggle silently not to give anything away but feeling exactly the same. 

After tea Serena gets out her iPad and logs into the right move website, shows the children what they have seen so far, Jason and Cam say what they like or don’t, Bernie tells them if they can make changes or not. Charlotte lost interest and was watching t.v, laughing at the latest episode of Catchphrase, as they celebrities have no idea what it is Charlotte managing to get most of them before they do, Jason joining in soon after, his interest lost as he wants to see them in person so he can get a better idea at what they can have, telling Bernie and Serena that. Bernie and Serena promising that they will go for a drive tomorrow, looking for possible interests.

Sunday as promised, they went for a drive around the several villages of Holby looking at houses for sale in the area, some of which they saw in the website the night before. If they were clearly empty they got out and looked around as much as they could, looking in the windows and around the gardens. They were close to where Fletch and Raf lived when they spotted a large detached empty house. The neighbour came out and introduced herself to them, offering them the keys if they wanted to look inside, apologising that the estate agent forgot again to tell them they were coming. “Oh don’t worry Mrs Tate, we just spotted it as we were driving around. We haven’t contacted them yet. Actually we haven’t even seen it on their website.” Abigail, that was her name, stated that the house had been on the market for so long not many people actually came here anymore, the estate agents near enough has forgotten about it. Bernie overheard and took the keys, “the sellers, would they be interested in a private sale then? If we like the look of it.” Bernie’s eyes showed her excitement in this house, it was in the neighbourhood they dreamed about, it was close to school and to the high school Jason would be attending in September, it was the next street away from Raf and Fletch, she was sure that Henrik and Mo lived near here too. Serena too was excited, the house look Georgian; rows of small windows, large covered front door, with steps leading to then, nice driveway and gardens that are gated and enclosed. At the rear was a large full width conservatory, a green house, a large shed and a detached garage that could easily fit 2 cars in. There were lots of trees towards the bottom of the garden, Cam asking if they can have a tree house Bernie’s eyes widen at the prospect that even the kids like it but they haven’t even set foot inside yet. 

Bernie nervously stood by the front door, they keys shaking in her hand, Serena takes them off her and opens the door to a large reception area; they can see four doors off the reception area as Bernie and Serena tentatively walk inside, hearts beating loudly in their ears and fast too. The children however run in, Serena telling them to come back and wipe their feet on the mat before going any further, they do walk back and wipe their feet and apologise.   
They are standing in the middle, looking up at the highly decorated ceiling, the wallpaper is coming off the walls everywhere they look, the carpet looked as though it was made back in the Georgian era, there is a thick layer of dust on all the furniture, cobwebs covering the figures that are dotted around, yet it looks perfect. Serena and Bernie can see the potential of bringing it back into the 21st Century. 

The kitchen is huge, there is a large Aga, all the cupboards have been made to measure the specifics of the large kitchen. There is an island in the centre, one whole side is filled with bottles of wine which Serena almost swoons over. There are doors that separate the conservatory and the kitchen, but you have a clear un-obstructive view to the garden. The conservatory is heated, there are large Georgian radiators dotted everywhere. The living room has 2 three seater sofas and 3 single chairs with room for lots more, there is a dining room with a 12 chair table in the centre of it. 

It was perfect. 

They headed upstairs, there were 5 bedrooms although one they wouldn’t class as a bedroom as it was so small, “Maybe this could be a study?” Serena asks as she takes it all in. There were 2 bathrooms and 2 walk in wardrobes / dressing rooms, all kitted out with in built wardrobes and drawers, again thickly covered in a layer of dust. Charlotte shouted out that she had chosen her room, Jason and Cam chose theirs too, the boys had decided that they want the ones that have adjoining doors. Serena noticed another staircase, she slowly ascended it and opened the door using the only key left that on the keyring that looked old enough as the newer ones were for the conservatory and garage. She walked out onto the balcony roof that overlooked the whole grounds, she could see for miles around as she looked down the back garden.   
Just to the left was the park where Raf and Fletch got married at Christmas, she could see the town centre too in the distance. She had fell for this house, hook, line and sinker. There was a lot to be done to it though, it needed decorating and modernising, maybe when whole electrics need to be done. It was a big job but she would take the chance if Bernie agreed. She shouted for Bernie to join her, watched as Bernie took the view in for herself, taking the same route Serena had. “I love it Serena, want to buy it? Is perfect, it can be perfect.” Serena nodded and held her hands open for Bernie to cuddle into, she did, they stood in silence both going over the big possibility of living here with each other. 

They head downstairs gathering the children as they do, making sure that all the doors are closed and locked in the process. As they head out the front door they see Ms Tate talking animatedly on the phone, she was talking to the sellers at a guess; she looked at Bernie and Serena several times, she was telling them about them and their family; selling them to the sellers. It was great to hear. The phone call ended and Abigail smiled, she will be in touch if you send her your details to this and hands over a piece of paper with a phone number hastily written on it. Serena takes the paper and says goodbye, letting Bernie have a quiet word while she put the kids back in the car. “She is going to speak to her solicitors tomorrow, she will let you know. She is interested in a private sale, its been like this for 5 years or more now. So put in a sensible offer and do your checks, I am sure they will accept.” Bernie thanks her and virtually skips back to the car, hopefully they will be the next homeowners of this house they have all fell in love with.

Before they head home they go to the local carvery for lunch, they talk about the prospects of their new home, Bernie trying to contain her excitement just incase it falls through. The only house she ever brought was with Marcus, they spent 3 weeks back and forth, Marcus arguing over every single thing. They ended up paying a lot more than they wanted too in the end because he was meddling. She really didn’t want this to happen with her new house, in fact she wanted her old house sold and made a mental note to call her solicitor tomorrow at break for an update, the last she heard was that she accepted the offer and was just waiting for the other party to finalise their mortgage. For now she just wanted to concentrate on her family.

When they got back, Charlotte managed to have a bath without getting her hair wet because of the glue, Bernie staying close by just incase she went dizzy, Cam had his shower followed by Jason. They sat at the kitchen table and completed their homework, Bernie starting the research for her new assignment, Serena listening to the children read their school book in turn and completing their homework diaries. They all had hot chocolate and biscuits before bed, Serena treating Bernie with a tot of whiskey in hers while Serena added Tia Maria that she found at her house the day before, after all it was going to go to minus 8 tonight if the weatherman was going to believed. Serena didn’t want Bernie or herself to have to put on any pyjama’s on, she wanted to feel all of Bernie tonight and carry on their new exercise regime; we are not talking about press-ups and sit-ups neither.

The kids all packed off to bed, Serena and Bernie snuggled on the sofa, Serena faking a rather large yawn, rubbing her eyes and tilting her head to bed. Bernie wondered what she was on about as it had only just turned 9pm and questioned if she wanted to go to bed, “really?” But the spark and twinkle in Serena’s eyes was what gave it away. “Yes, well I am suddenly VERY tired too, I need a shower before we get there, coming in?” Serena got up, locked the front door and lead Bernie all the way up the stairs and into the bathroom.

Serena and Bernie stripped themselves quickly as it was so cold, they turned the water on to boiling and quickly got themselves underneath it, hissing as the hot water hots their cool bodies. Bernie pins Serena against the cold tiles, tilting the shower head overtime to keep them warm, Serena’s hands were kept occupied by Bernie’s hair while Bernie’s were softening Serena’s hard and cold nipples, she like to nip at them, but being so cold it would come keen and she didn’t want that, she needed them stiff but warm. Her head lowered to take one in her mouth, her now free hand snakes between Serena’s thighs and finds the hot slick mess that she already has Serena in, as soon as she thrusts 2 fingers deep in Serena’s core she arches and start to thrust up and down on them, eager to get started.   
They didn’t have long as Bernie wanted to be at the school earlier than usual, her first day as a trainee teacher there.   
Anyway back to what they were up to.

Serena didn’t take long to cum, enjoying biting down on Bernie’s shoulder to stop any noise emanating from her mouth which would wake any of the children up. She sagged and clung on, Bernie holding her against the wall, continuing the kisses to her neck and jaw, telling Serena how much she loves her body, how perfect she is, how she wants her all the time now. And Serena feels the same about Bernie’s, to show this she slides down the wall onto her knees and looks straight up at Bernie as she lowers her head sucking directly on Bernie’s clit, not foreplay, no warning, straight on like a baby sucking on the mothers breast. Bernie holds onto her head with one had, keeps her in place, her free hand is flat on the wall as her hips buck onto Serena’s face while her head is being pressed back to the wall. Serena’s hands encouraging her movements as she digs her nails into Bernie’s arse, pulling her arse cheeks wider. Bernie cums, Serena doesn’t stop, she wont let Bernie pull away neither, so the onslaught continues, all the way through to Bernie’s second hard and fast orgasm sending her knees week and sitting on Serena’s knee, kissing sharing her spilled juices until Bernie can stand once again and the water has gone to luke warm.

In bed, they lie sated and in each others arms, naked. Speaking of their dreams in the near future, maybe a holiday, maybe a trip away, maybe just maybe a new house and a moving in party to boot. Their dreams were filled with things they wanted in their future. 

So why did Bernie wake up from a nightmare, dreaming about Marcus?


	30. I can't do this!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bernie and Serena have a wobble.

It is 4:30am and Serena is wide awake and has been for several hours, trying to calm a sleeping Bernie down. She hasn’t slept well all night, her screams have even woke the children up, Serena trying to reassure them that Bernie is ok and is just having a bad dream, just like they sometimes do. The final straw comes when Bernie is bucking and begging, trying to break free; her hands and feet are clasped together, the duvet is on the floor and Bernie is shaking, she is covered in goose pimples. Serena has tried everything to calm her down, rouse her from the sleep, yet nothing. One last cruel attempt works, she got a glass half filled with cool water and poured it over Bernie’s face. Bernie bolted upright, grabbed Serena by the wrists and pinned her against the bed until Serena’s gentle words got through to her.  
“Bernie its me, it is Serena, you are safe, no one is going to hurt you, the children are safe.” Bernie blinked a few times and relaxed, when her foggy brain cleared she was full of remorse; thinking that she had hurt Serena. Serena held her tight in bed after allowing her to check on the children, seeing for herself that they were ok. Upon returning to bed she cried in Serena’s arms, devastated with the finger marks left on Serena’s wrists, the purple bruises showing, clear imprints of her dreams.

“I can’t do this.” Bernie cried, Serena wondered what she meant. Couldn’t be with her? Couldn’t do her teaching certificate? Couldn’t move house? Bernie just wept saying that she couldn’t do it. When the shoulders sagged and her breaths became less staccato Serena asked the dreaded question. Bernie held onto her tightly and she just said she can’t relax knowing that he could come after her again. His parting words was that he was going to kill her before she blacked out. Knowing where they lived prayed heavy on her mind, the fact that they were still legally married played on her mind. That a noose was already around her neck was slowly tightening and there was nothing she could do about it. Robbie too was still out there, threatening their happiness, following them around without being seen. They both have looking at heir surroundings more, paying particular attention to faces that reoccur, thinking that Robbie may have hired someone after being caught out. Yes it sounded far fetched, but was it really?   
They talked, watched the sun rise and got everything ready for their day ahead. Bernie’s first day back at the school as a trainee teacher.

Jason has woke up in a funny mood too, wether it was from broken sleep no one knew but today was going to be a bad day all around. Serena’s from the lack of sleep, Bernie’s through exhaustion and first day nerves. Cam’s and Charlottes because they were worried about their mum. Everything just seems off kilter, yet the bags are packed, breakfast was eaten, dished done (a rarity) and they were all in the car early. The traffic too was clear, no hold ups, no red lights, they even called at the local Starbucks (others are available) for drinks as a treat. They arrived at the school just as Henrik was getting out of the car, he gave them a brief wave before opening the school front door; the children heading to the nurture room as requested until their friends had arrived.

“Ms Wolfe, if you would spare me a minute.” Henrik said as he opened his door, watching her hover around, hearing her footsteps walking up and down the small corridor. She nodded and entered, shutting the door behind her. “So I have placed you with Ms Naylor for this week, you are to observe and follow orders. Next week you will be with Ms Effanga and you will start to do your own lesson plans, so please speak to her at some point this week for direction.” Bernie made notes, nodded and asked questions where appropriate as he ran through the upcoming Ofsted requirements. They were due anytime in the next 3 months, all paperwork and plans had to go through Henrik to make sure that they had a good score at the end of it. When they had finished Henrik asked if there was anything else he could help with, noticing her jittery legs and her shaking hands. Bernie looked at her feet, they too were fidgety, “I need to make a personal phone call at break time. Would it be possible for me to use your office. Its regarding Marcus.” Henrik placed a hand on her shoulder, she flinched then settled. “Of course Ms Wolfe, I shall make myself scarce, just come and find me afterwards. Or send Serena.” Bernie nodded, thanked him and made her way to Serena’s classroom until just before the bell rang when she walked over to Ms Naylors classroom.

Cameron knocked on Mr Hansen’s door after he saw his mum leave, Henrik waved him in and offered him a biscuit out of his drawer, it wasn’t a chocolate one but he liked malted milk all the same. “Mum had a nightmare last night. I heard her screaming, she was screaming like she did when Dad hurt her, the time that we got taken into care.” Henrik wondered what the whole family went through at that time, he saw the report but the report was the light need to know version. He read about the children being taken into care for the weeks that Bernie was recovering in hospital, yes they were allowed to visit, but Bernie didn’t want them there for too long, didn’t want to let them see what damage their father had done, but they knew, they saw the bruises, the scars and the recovery. “She couldn’t walk for a while you know.” Cam blurted out after a few moments of silence. Mr Hansen shook his head, he didn’t know. “He nearly killed her, she even died in surgery, but I am not supposed to know that, I read it when mum went to see the solicitor and she had to take me with her. The police reports were spread out on the table, I am quite good at reading upside down.” Henrik thought carefully about what to say, “I didn’t know that, your mum is very strong and is here now. The nightmares will continue for a little while, like you have them sometimes, everyone does. But you must know that your mum loves you and is now happy.” Cam nodded, this was true. She was brave and fearless in standing up to his father, no matter what the consequences are, he knew that his mum fought to nearly her death for them, that made up for all the times when she was away in the army. “Thanks Mr Hansen. Chat later yeah?” Cam stood up, waved and left the office. Henrik made a note of their discussion, placed it in his filing cabinet next to Jason’s and promptly locked the drawer. He knew that he needed to keep an extra eye on them all, including Serena.

At the morning break time Bernie called her solicitor, wanted an update and was surprised to find out that the house had been sold, the final paperwork was with the judge to sign the divorce papers as Marcus still refusing to sign them until he sees his wife. Bernie asks what would it entail if she was to visit him, the solicitor strongly advises against it, even if he will be cuffed to a table and surrounded by guards. “I just want the divorce papers, I want it all to be over and if that means me paying him a visit them that is what I shall do.” The solicitor is instructed to make the necessary arrangements for the weekend. Bernie is given a list of things she can and cannot take, proof of who she is, she also requests for the divorce papers for him to sign, stating she will collect them on Friday after school ‘IF’ the judge hasn’t done it by then, this is the last resort. Serena is horrified, she pleads and begs for Bernie not to go, knowing it is not safe, “I just want to be free of him Serena, you either need to support me in this and help me or stay silent in the matter and let me just deal with it on my own.” Bernie wouldn’t normally have snapped and been harsh but it was all taking its toll on her. Serena nodded, held her hands out for Bernie to take and promised to support her, whatever she decides to do. “Thank you, I know it must be hard but its what I have to do to be rid of him, this I have to do Serena, for us.” Serena nodded, left Bernie to take a few minutes on her own before telling Henrik he can have his office back.

Just before lunch Jason had a meltdown, mostly due to the fact he was tired and they had PE which was his least favourite subject. Fletch took him home after having the key from Bernie, realising that Serena actually doesn’t have a key of her own, she just used the spare key that was in Bernie’s home or she was with Bernie. She asked Fletch on the way home to get a key cut, one for him and one for Serena, she asked Jason to pick out a really nice keyring for his aunty before he goes home to bed. He nodded as he walked away, his body slumped as he walked, as if his bones were tired too. Bernie watched them leave, spotting a certain someone at the end of the road. He was walking towards the school, staying on the opposite side as stated by his restraining order, her didn’t approach Jason but he did say something to Fletch that seemed to alarm him after Jason got in the car. Bernie ran to the office making sure that it was all captured on the CCTV, it was, but the words spoken wasn’t picked up and she couldn’t try to lip read what he said as his back was turned to the school. Robbie waved them off and continued to walk up the road, he halted at the corner as if he knew Bernie was watching, he gave a two fingered wave and continued on his way. Bernie reported it to Henrik promising to tell Serena later.

Charlotte was woozy from her head injury still so played inside at lunchtime, she loved to play with Ms Effanga, kicking her very concerned mum and Serena out of the classroom as they did, today she was playing with the fuzzy felt, making up stories with her friend Liv. They had five boards going, Mo doing voices as they went along, Billy Goat Gruff meets Red Riding Hood. Mo laughing out loud as the goats chase off the wolf, but conning Red Riding Hood out of all of her sweets each time she crossed the bridge to go and see grandma. Bernie watched before she re-entered the classroom after eating her lunch with Serena, this was the type of teaching she wanted to do, she knew that the paperwork was important, but she wanted to be more of an action teacher wherever possible. She signalled her arrival, asking Mo if she could spare a minute, then laughing as Mo was stuck on the children’s chair, her baby bump getting in the way already, she had to get on the floor on her hands and knees before standing, Bernie helping her up as she does so.  
Mo gives her, her plans. Shows her the curriculum, Romans is History, Science they are doing how things grow, Maths was division and Bernie lit up at that knowing that it means cake and biscuits. She made lots of notes, the only area she was worried about was literacy, it wasn’t her strong suit regarding phonics, Charlotte agreeing to help her at home.

Serena sat nervously with her cheese and pickle sandwich, Bernie had come in to the classroom again a bag of nerves, but with an extra slight edge to it. Serena tried to get Bernie to sit down but every time she placed her bottom to the chair she jumped up again and walked around the classroom. Serena placed her sandwich back in her box and stood up, walked over to where Bernie was and placed her hand on her hip. Bernie freaked out, scared almost and then collapsed in Serna’s arms when she realised wit was her; Serena lead them into the store cupboard, the one where they were once locked in, and held her tightly. Knowing that anyone could come into the classroom and Bernie wouldn’t want them to see the state she was in.

“Come on Bernie, what has got you in this state?” Serena waited patiently for Bernie to speak, rubbing her hands up and down Bernie’s back to comfort her and keep their bodies close. “He was here again. He spoke to Fletch, I don’t know what was said, I couldn’t see on camera. Serena I want him to stay away from us, leave is alone.” Serena was angry but tried her best to stay calm for Bernie’s sake and the sake of her class this afternoon. “We shall record it down like we got told, get a copy for the solicitor and speak to Fletch when we get home. He can't and wont hurt us Bernie. I am not frightened of him anymore.” Bernie gave one last squeeze with her strong arms before placing her hands softly on Serena’s cheek, bringing her into a soft and slow kiss, intending to show Serena how much she is loved, how thankful she is to have her in her life, to show that they have a future together. “Marry me.” Bernie asked as they finished the kiss but no answer could be given as she bolted through the door, headed to Ms Effanga’s class. Leaving Serena there in the store room gobsmacked.

Bernie went straight to Jac’s class after seeing Mo, helping Jac to set up for the afternoon. Serena sort of floated through eating her sandwiches, with those two words going around in her head like a washing machine. She was a divorced woman whose marriage was a living hell. A philandering drunk husband, her only child killed by a driver on her way home after her said ex-husband forgot to pick her up. She had her own emotional scars from her first marriage and never contemplated going through it again really, even when Robbie asked, she declined the times he did ask, knew deep down it wasn’t right even before Jason came to live with her. But was she ready now? Could she do this? Was this what Bernie actually wanted, she had no clue as they never spoke about it before, only been together a few weeks officially, only known each other since September and it is now February. She knew one thing, tonight they needed to talk.

Henrik contacted the police that afternoon, to see if they could do anything as Robbie was effectively having an impact on the day to day running of the school. He had a conversation with a member of his staff that was escorting a child (Jason) home. The police were surprised to learn this, this actually did break his no contact order as Jason was within 50 feet of him. They took down the details, were sending a plain clothed officer over to get the evidence and when they took a statement from Fletch then they had the evidence to arrest him once again. At the end of the school day he called a staff meeting to explain what was going to happen. Serena and Bernie relieved that Henrik had the insight to do this, they still needed to inform their solicitors but they had the evidence, it had already been collected and seen by the officer, which actually turned out to be the officer that dealt with Bernie and Serena’s case from before. The station wanted to keep it all in one place.

The ride home was in silence. Cam and Charlotte were almost asleep when they arrived home, Serena couldn’t bare to look at Bernie until they sat down and spoke properly and Bernie was in no way going to look at Serena while driving home for the fear pf crashing the car. Fletch opened the door for them as Serena had Charlotte in her arms and Bernie carried Cam, allowing them to have a little sleep before they have their tea; knowing they would sleep again afterwards. No showers tonight. Fletch told Serena and Bernie what Robbie said or warned in this case. “Robbie firmly implied that he is never going to leave you alone Serena, to remind you that you always will be his and nothing ever is going to stop that, even hiding in the ‘Major’s’ house.” Bernie was furious, she stormed out of the house leaving Fletch and Serena wondering when she would return and where she has gone, hoping to God that she doesn’t go looking for Robbie.

It is midnight and Bernie still hadn’t returned. Serena cooked their teas and put the children to bed, kept Fletch informed that she hadn’t yet returned home, Raf too went to look for Bernie but he was unsuccessful as he had no clue where to start. The front door rattled as Bernie had no key, Serena gingerly looked through the letterbox to find Bernie bent over, panting at the door; Serena swung it open and pulled Bernie in as fast as she could and slapped her straight across her face and left her standing in the hallway while she stomped to the kitchen feeling ashamed of her reaction. She did the one thing she swore she would never do, hit her partner. Knowing what Bernie went through with Marcus made it 100 times worse. She slumped to the floor crying, Bernie following after her once she came to her senses, hearing the cries from Serena and finding her on the kitchen floor.  
“I am so sorry Bernie, I will move back to the house now, just let Jason stay here for tonight. Please Bernie let me go.” Bernie held her tighter every time she asked her to let go, never saying a word just yet, she didn’t know exactly what to say. Serena broke free from Bernie’s strong arms and headed to the back door, which was only three steps. She quickly unlocked and just opened the door when Bernie slammed it shut, turning Serena around to face her and backed her into it kissing her passionately and hungrily. Serena clung onto Bernie with everything she had, apologies came after they part each time, each time Bernie halting them with another bruising kiss. The final words to stop her were this……. “Marry me!”


	31. Did someone say it's Valentine's Day?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who could forget the most romantic day of the year?

Serena never gave an answer, Bernie never pressed for one. They went straight to bed, to sleep, entangled against each other, knowing that one way or another they and everything would be ok.

They went about Tuesday as if nothing happened the day before, no anxiety, no proposal (twice), no seeing Robbie, no statements to the police; just normal run of the mill getting ready, feeding themselves and the children and off to school on time. Jason too seemed to have recovered and was willing to go to the High School even though they could rearrange the day after his meltdown, he assured his aunty that he would be ok, even if Bernie wasn’t there anyway he was going to Fletch and Raf’s for tea tonight and he wasn’t going to miss out on that. He also told Serena that he had made arrangements to go to the science rooms with Mickey and one of his friends at lunch time as Bernie was no longer at the school; Serena was about to ask him something else when Fletch let himself in with the key, handing the spare one over secretly as she stormed out yesterday he never got chance to give it to her. Serena wondered what the exchange was but she was too busy making sure that Jason had everything to take too much notice in; Bernie hiding whatever it was in her inside jacket pocket before sending Cam and Charlotte out to the car, holding the door open for Serena to follow them.

Again normalcy happened on route to the school, they chatted about everything and nothing, what they wanted for tea tonight, the fact that Charlotte had cooking class after school and Cam had a date with his girlfriend after football practice. “What?” Bernie shrieked, Serena trying her best to hide the smile while she was driving. “Well mum it is Valentines day.” “Fuck!” Bernie uttered, “Shit!” Serena did too, both simultaneously, they had both forgotten the day. As they got to school Serena gave a quick goodbye to them all and almost ran to her classroom while Bernie made her way to Ms Naylor's class, despairing as she forgot the most important day since they got together. She made an emergency phone call to the florist who was very understanding and promised to deliver flowers before the school day finishes. “No lilies, I would like red roses and sunflowers please.” The florist assured her that she would do the best she can as she keeps reeling of the list of flowers she wants and emails the florist the letter she wants her to put with them.

Serena spent all of her pre school bell time and shortly afterwards ordering a book of memories, photos of them all. The times they spent together and requested a few blank pages in areas where she could fill in when she collected it at the end of the day, thankful that the supermarket had same day service for things like this. She also knew she could pick up a card, hoping that Bernie wouldn’t mind a small detour home, not having to worry about explaining why they would be late as Jason wouldn’t be going straight home. She did however text Fletch to see if he had any other idea’s. He made a joke about forgetting the most romantic day of the year and she replying with a smirk on her face saying ‘SHUT UP!’   
Thank god for Morven, she set up the class, took the register and started them all of with the morning spellings all before Serena lifted her head from her phone apologising to her. Serena managed to sneak away at the end of the school day alone, without Bernie noticing as she was in deep discussion with Jac which was fortunate as she herself missed the florist van pull up at the school gates and Essie signing for them on Bernie’s behalf, hiding them in her office, feeling the love as this was just one of the several Valentine’s gifts that arrived for members of staff. Morven received a red rose from Arthur, Dom had a strange unicorn teddy saying ‘I love you’ and a card from Lofty, Mo had a dozen red roses and two cards. One from Derwood and the other saying ‘ My Mummy to be.’ On with a picture of their latest scan. Essie did in fact receive a Valentine’s gift of her own, a very large cuddly bear that is currently sitting on the guest chair from Sasha, Bernie commented that it resembled him in a cuddly sort of way, asking if the bear was actually wearing one of his colourful shirts. 

Love was definitely going around the school.

Cam was picked up by his girlfriends mum after football practice, promising to have him home before 8:30, Charlotte asked if she can go to Fletch’s for tea with Jason, Bernie flirted off a quick text and it was a yes, so after they dropped Charlotte off they would have the house to themselves. 

When the flowers arrived for Serena they were stunning, a selection of flowers with purposeful meaning, all explained on the letter that had accompanied it.   
Bernie found Serena tidying her class after sending a very helpful Morven home with Arthur, she walked in with the large bouquet of flowers and an apologetic face; “Happy Valentines Day Serena.” Serena looked up, she saw this floating bouquet and the messy blonde hair behind it and smiled; hurried around the tables to meet Bernie half way and placed the flowers down on the table and wrapped her hands around Bernie’s neck and kissed her. Not something they actually did that often as they didn’t want the children to see but at this precise moment in time neither of them cared. She took the larger than normal envelope from between the flowers and read Bernie’s message, her declaration of love and devotion.

The letter read:

To My beautiful Serena,

All of these flowers I have picked for what they represent.

Tulips are my declaration of love.   
Lavender as a sign of devotion.   
Chrysanthemums as I promise truth and honesty.   
Red Roses as I desire you, I love you.   
Daffodils as a sign of our new family and relationship.   
Lilacs as I want to show you the love and passion that I have for you.   
Purple Crocus’s for our youthful happiness and finally the Sunflower. 

The Sunflower means false riches, I don’t mean this in our future, but what has been in our past, but the flower always faces the sun wherever and whenever it can, I will follow you to the ends of the earth if I have to.  
You are the love of my life, the sun in my sky and I never have ever been this happy. 

You make my life complete and for that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.

I meant what I asked, I would love you to say yes if and when you are ready, but until that time please know that I will always love you, for eternity.

All my love Bernie xx 

*************************************************************************************************

Serena pulled Bernie as they kissed into the store cupboard where her own present was hidden. The beautifully wrapped present was handed over, Serena now nervous, wondering if Bernie would like it. Bernie ever the big kid tore the wrapping paper of with lightening speed and carefully opened the book, she fingered every page, recollecting when and where the pictures were taken, even the selfie of them both lying in bed on Christmas night, naked after they had made love for several hours, the glow they had was something that would stay with her for a lifetime. The last page was the one that made Bernie cry. It was a quote that she found while doing some research, it was her answer to Bernie’s impromptu but important question.

‘What greater thing is there for two human souls that feel that they are joined…to strengthen each other…to be at one with each other in silent and unspeakable memories’ - George Elliot.

When Serena read this she felt that this was written for them, the dark and unspeakable memories that they each have are a comfort when they are together. “What does this mean S’rena?” Serena reached out with her left hand and held Bernie’s left hand, she stroked Bernie’s tear stained cheek with her right and made sure she held eye contact, “it means yes Bernie, I will marry you.” Bernie let out a half choke and half laugh, she picked Serena up and twirled her in the small confines of the store cupboard and kissed her again, she couldn’t believe it, well she could, but she didn’t believe the woman that made her the happiest actually said yes to her slip, her meaningful slip nevertheless.   
Bernie composed herself as she lowered Serena back to the floor, she brushed down her shirt and jacket, Serena wondered what she was actually doing but then she saw a small silver thing with a love heart attached to it. Bernie coughed to make sure she was clear in what she was about to say, “Serena I realised yesterday that you did not have a key to our home, so I asked Fletch to get one for you, the keyring was picked out by Jason, I haven’t yet got you a ring, I promise to do that very soon, but please have this a key to our home, our home for now anyway.” It was Serena’s turn to cry, it was something that never really crossed her mind neither. She pushed Bernie against the door and kissed her again, promising that tonight she will show her just how happy she is.

“Oh one more thing…..” Bernie smirked as she was being kissed and marked on her shoulder under her now very open shirt. “Yes?” Serena asked. “We have the house to ourselves for the next 3 hours.” Serena immediately pulled away, tugged Bernie away from the door, picked up the photo book and opened the door almost pushing Bernie through it, collecting her flowers on the way. She was desperate to get Bernie home and Bernie was too.

Considering whenever Serena drives, she sticks to the speed limit, cautiously takes her time at give way signs and slows whenever there is a cyclist on the road. Today however she is the complete opposite, even Bernie asks her if she is in training for the next season of Formula One? Serena just shoots her a look, a look that sends shivers down Bernie’s spine and wetness straight into her knickers. Bernie knew in that instant that there would be no food when they got in, no romantic meal, no candle lights, heart decorated table napkins; she was very sure that somewhere in the next few hours not only the table will be used but the whole of the house almost and she was looking forward to it. So through very busy end of workday traffic Serena got them home a whole 10 minutes before she normally would. She got out her new key, opened the door and waited for Bernie to catch up. Bernie was purposely walking as slowly as her heart and head would allow, making sure she looked at Serena all over before meeting her eyes, once their eyes met, they never left. The door was loudly shut behind her and she was being stripped very quickly of all clothes, leaving a trail right into the front room.

They landed nakedly sideways on the sofa, rather conveniently both devouring each other in kisses, hands wandering all over each other; it was Bernie who ended up on her back with Serena pressing her body down between Bernie’s legs, her hips gently rolling, causing friction to where they need it, both are wet already. Bernie rolled her hips in time with Serena too, lifting her legs as high as she could, opening her folds wide. Their lips haven’t yet broken, eyes shut gently, fingers tweaking a nipple or playing with the strands of hair; movements become more frantic as they need to breathe, they place their cheeks together as their bodies tingle with the first signs of their orgasms coming to head. Serena silently nods to Bernie who hums, they open their eyes to look at each other as they cum, Serena rolling to the side once again once the after effects of their love making ease; their hands now travel down the others body, as always when they are like this, in tandem. 

Serena hooks a leg over Bernie’s hips, Bernie raises her leg so her foot is flat on the sofa, both open to each other as they gently circle each others clit, Bernie needing it lighter than Serena does, as she is always more sensitive. Their breasts rub together, their breaths cause them shivers as they are so wrapped around each other even they are unsure which body part belongs to who. Bernie slips two fingers just inside of Serena’s core, still keeping enough pressure on her clit as he gently and slowly thrusts in and out, not always hitting the g spot, this is done on purpose as Bernie wants them to climax together again, knowing that if she keeps stroking the g spot Serena will come immediately and she isn’t quite there yet, but a few flicks of Serena’s fingers sends her there; this time their lips are touching, tips of noses too, Bernie strokes the g spot and feels Serena clench tight, she hums and Serena moans. They cum again shaking in each others embrace. 

They stay close and enjoy the peacefulness of the house, “we have them tickets for the spa, fancy using them soon, if Fletch and Raf will have the children?” Bernie whispers, as she takes a nipple in her mouth, Serena arches into her and moans a “yeah.” “We can go out for something to eat too if you want?” As Bernie takes the other nipple in her mouth, Serena squirming against her “Uh huh!” As her answer. “Maybe even go ring shopping too?” Bernie asks as her kisses trail down past Serena’s navel, Serena’s hands go into the blonde mop and push her down further, she cant answer and Bernie knows it, “yes, oh god yes.” Serena shouts, good job the house is empty, Bernie smirks, “is that to the ring or this?” As she delves in tongue first again, “oh god….. both.” Serena says loudly, like she is getting her voice all the way to the other end of the playground, Bernie laughs, holds her down tightly and sucks hard on her clit sending her over the edge and screaming until Serena’s throat is sore and in need of liquid. She didn’t need time to recover, she needed Bernie, so she slid of the sofa, placed her head back on the seat and pulled Bernie so she is straddling her face. Bernie held on to the back of the sofa as she lowered herself down, Serena’s fingers thrust immediately hard and fast as she licked with the very tip of her tongue on Bernie’s clit; Bernie cant keep still, her hips move and meet Serena’s long and fine fingers, Serena stops when the juices run down her chin, Bernie instantly falling down on her to clean the mess she made, Serena licking her lips and fingers in the process. 

For now they are both sated.

Serena suggests a shower as she places a frozen home prepared meal in the oven, it takes about 50 minutes to cook, plenty of time for a shower with extras she tells Bernie. Bernie is collecting their discarded clothing and heads upstairs to start the brilliant idea of a shower, reaching under the bed while she is waiting for Serena.   
Serena pours them both a glass of shiraz and heads upstairs to the bathroom, Bernie is already underneath the shower, she holds out her hand, Serena places the wine on the windowsill and joins her fiancée. Serena sees the added extra standing to attention and she strokes it firmly as they kiss, she gets down on her knees and takes the whole thing nearly in her mouth making Bernie moan. Once she has had her fill, Serena rises and turns to face away from Bernie, her hands splayed on the tiles telling Bernie exactly how she wants it; Bernie lines the head up and slowly enters her until its all the way in, Serena turns her head to face Bernie, wraps one of her hands around Bernie’s head while keeping the other hand on the wall, as they start to kiss Bernie slowly moves her hips, she places her hand on Serena’s breast and the other around Serena’s waist keeping her exactly where she needs her. As Serena becomes more urgent, her hand on the wall too comes to hold onto Bernie’s head as she arches into her, Bernie’s lips are kissing her back, neck and shoulders, Serena’s head is moving from side to side, she mutters unintelligible things, her core is tight around the phallus, Bernie changes the hand position so that the one around Serena’s waist is not placing pressure on her clit, circling over her bush, direct pressure would be too much. Serena squeezes Bernie’s head as she comes, pressing her teeth further into her skin, Bernie adds a little extra as she sees her through her orgasm. Bernie turns Serena around and holds her close, her legs a little shaky but managing to hold her weight nevertheless; they kiss slowly and languorously until the spray runs cool. 

They step out of the shower and wrap themselves in the Terry towel dressing gowns they had for Christmas from Henrik, each with their initial on. Serena hands over the glass of wine and they drink it in silence, eyes never leaving each other. They hear the buzzer from the oven signalling their tea needs to be checked, it is time to put the garlic bread in, Bernie heads downstairs first leaving the strap on, on the sink only for Serena to place herself in it and follow her downstairs a few minutes later.

Serena watches Bernie place the garlic bread in the oven and reset the timer, they are definitely going to need it as they only have an hour left before the children come back home. Serena edges Bernie back to the table, she sits on it and opens her legs to let Serena in, before Serena steps closer she pulls the blinds down with a smirk and opens Bernie’s dressing gown wide, this is going have to be quick as the garlic bread only takes about 15 minutes at the most. 

Serena takes an erect nipple in her mouth while she enters Bernie without warning with her fingers once again, curling but falling short of the spongy g spot; Serena looks up to Bernie who is leaning back on her straightened arms, watching intently and she sucks on each nipple in turn and keeps a steady rhythm going. Bernies legs are already shaking with want so she undoes her own dressing gown, lets it pool on the floor and takes a step closer, she runs the dildo through her folds and enters her hard and fast, holding onto Bernie’s hips in the process. Bernie flings her arms around Serena’s neck as the full length and their hips meet their final destination, Serena tucks her hands under Bernie’s knees and again holds tightly onto her hips, keeping Bernie wide and open for what is about to come. Bernie tightens her grip around Serena’s neck as she pulls away, the head just slipping out but staying between her folds, Serena waits until Bernie moans in protest of waiting then quick and hard she starts to thrust, her own thighs hitting the table but she doesn’t care. She builds her up only to stop deep in Bernie, allows to loosen her inner muscles on the dildo and starts again. This is how it goes until the timer on the cooker buzzes, it is only then that Serena allows to Bernie to cum, silently but exhaustingly; she is now splayed out on the kitchen table, getting her breath and body back.

Serena drops the strap on, on top of her dressing gown, places the apron over her as she reaches the garlic bread and lasagne out of the oven, portions it out and takes it into the living room for them to eat, Bernie still not moved until Serena re-enters to grab and fill their wine glasses, pulling her up and shoving her in the direction of the living room, leaving her apron behind. Bernie smiles and drops her dressing gown when she sees Serena tuck into her lasagne nakedly, as a bit of sauce drops onto her stomach, Bernie leans over and clears it, taking her chance with a quick chaste kiss too. They just about finish their meals when they hear the car door shutting and Cameron shouting thank you to his girlfriends mum, Serena scrambles into the kitchen and hides the strap on in the tea towel drawer and quickly puts her dressing gown on, inside out! Bernie too spills her left over tea over the floor while putting her own dressing gown on and trying to stall Cam at the door, hopefully giving Serena enough time to sort herself out. Just as Cam enters over the threshold Fletch pulls up with Charlotte and Jason in the car, he parts with a wave and a wink, she shyly waves back and sends them all upstairs to put their pyjamas on, which they all do without protest. Bernie comes back in the living room to see Serena clearing up her fallen food, she goes to help but Serena asks her to make them all a hot chocolate, knowing Jason wont want to break his night time routine anymore than already done so.

The three children enjoy a chat of their day over the hot chocolate and a story before heading to bed, its a late night for a school night but they all seemed to have enjoyed themselves. Tomorrow is another day.


	32. Divorce Papers.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bernie and Serena have some news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the long wait. Family matters getting in the way of writing time. I hope to update at least weekly but I will try and post twice a week if I can.

It’s early on the Friday morning and they all are woken up to someone furiously pressing the doorbell and constantly knocking on the door. Jason starts to wander downstairs to go to open the door when Bernie shouted for him to come straight back up, under no circumstances was he to open the door. Serena stood at the top of the stairs with her silk dressing gown tied around her keeping the children in their rooms. Bernie places the chain on the door and opens it. “Ms Berniece Wolfe?” The tall man asked through the small slit, when Bernie nodded he thrusted through a large envelope saying “you have been served.” Bernie took the envelope and was about to shut the door when the balding man held the door in place and asked if Ms Serena Campbell was at the residence, Bernie looked upstairs to Serena, “she is here yes.” She replied tentatively, Serena made her way down stairs and stood behind Bernie at the door “I am Ms Serena Campbell.” He again thrusted another large envelope through the door again stating “you too have been served.”

Bernie and Serena had been summoned to court to give evidence in Robbie’s trial but to their anger, as witnesses for the defence. “How on earth can this be Bernie? He attacked you, he ransacked my home, he stole from me, how can we be a witness for the defence?” Bernie couldn’t answer, she had no clue, she read through the paperwork, reread it again to see if there was any indication, then they swapped papers. They both were exactly the same apart from their names on them. “We shall ring the solicitor at break time, go to see them if we have to after school. IN school time if we need to.” Bernie had spent yesterday at the Uni, she had a decent score on her last assignment and was tutored on her next few. She started to enjoy the Uni days now as she had met a few new friends along the way, swapping notes and books etc, all while learning, coffee and cake breaks and hitting the library. 

Sorry back to it.

Serena got the children up and dressed, Bernie made a start on their breakfasts and packed lunches all in relative silence, Jason was inquisitive but was told not to ask just yet as they didn’t have any answers for him yet, but as soon as they do they will sit down and discuss it all. The children all looked worriedly between themselves, Cameron for one was more unsettled than the rest. Serena and Bernie tried to reassure them but Cam was so unsettled he threw his breakfast cereal straight back up. Bernie wanted to keep him at home but he insisted that he wanted to go to school as they had PE again today, much to the disgust of Serena. They had been concentrating on the numeracy and literacy so much this week Serena promised them an afternoon of sports fun if they did well in their tests this morning, which she reminded Cam; he just cheekily smiled and winked “I have this in the bag this week.” Serena laughed and Bernie sat gawping, he has never been like this on a Friday morning but at least it has taken his mind of the court summons. Cam rushed back upstairs with a piece of toast hanging out of his mouth, his mum did for him at his request then he remembered he needed to get his jumper and PE bag, freshly washed after Tuesdays match. 

They arrived at school with plenty of time, Bernie escorting Serena to her classroom where she closed the door to the store cupboard and pulled her in for a loving kiss, reassuring each other that they will be ok, no matter the reason why they have been called for the defence. “I love you,” Serena said as she looked at her ring on Bernie’s shoulder, no one yet has noticed, they weren’t going to say anything to anyone. They haven’t even told the children yet, the fact that they are getting married was still sinking in, in a good way. Bernie covered the ring with her hand and twirled it, Serena watching her as she does, she slips it off her finger and reaches around for Serena’s neckless, she slips it on the chain and refastens it. No rings are allowed when playing sports and as it is raining they will have the gymnastic equipment out. As Bernie lets it drop, the ring lands just in the grove of Serena’s breasts, she places a kiss on the ring, one on the tip of Serena’s nose and one final one on her lips “I love you too.” She replies. The shouts and cheers from outside make them walk into the classroom once again as it is nearly time for the bell, they arrange to meet in Hansen’s office at break; Serena already text him on the way in to ask if they could use his office, not explaining why, but as always he had no issue with it. The bell goes and they head outside to collect their rabble of children.

“Ah good morning Ms Wolfe, glad you could finally join me!” Jac said with her usual dryness but with a smirk, “I think you need a wet wipe on your face and especially around your lips before we head in.” Bernie wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and a smear of deep red lipstick appeared, she blushed and headed straight to the toilets to clean her face up, free on Serena’s lipstick; shaking her head as she did so, not believing her fiancé would let her go out like that. “I will get my own back Campbell!” She said as she exited the ladies back to the classroom.  
“Ms Wolfe has kindly offered to see you through this morning tests.” Jac declared as Bernie shuts the door behind her, looking startled; Jac hands over the spelling and maths test questions and leaves her to it, literally, leaving the classroom. Bernie takes a deep breath in, and starts them off; she hates speaking at the front of the class like this. Making a mental note to try and change the end of week tests when she becomes qualified.

The morning bell goes, Bernie collects the test papers from the children as they head out, Jac still not returned from wherever she went, knowing the tests would take up all morning. Bernie found Jac sitting with her legs on the chair sipping her coffee with a newspaper on her legs, doing the crossword. Bernie smiles as she enters, “I take it you haven’t eaten any of the children then?” Jac asks with a smirk, Bernie laughs and shakes her head, “all counted and checked……but a few fingers missing.” Bernie carried on making the coffee’s for her and Serena, she took them to Hansen’s office where Serena was already on the phone to the solicitor. 

There were a lots of yes’s and no’s, a “you can’t be serious?” Which she shouted loudly waving her hands in the air, and with the end of the call coming to a close Bernie presumed as she growled “well I am not doing that so they will have to hold me contempt of court if they have to.” As she hammered the red end call button and slammed her phone down on the chair, only for Bernie’s to be ringing immediately after.  
“Hello.” Bernie says as understated as ever, it is her solicitor, Bernie hopes she has some good news. “Ms Wolfe, I have some new for you, are you ok to talk now?” Bernie sits on the visitors chair in Hansen’s office, she is shaking, so is Serena but hers is out of anger. “Erm, yes, I have a few minutes.” Serena sits down beside her and watches her face for what is being said, but Bernie places the call on loud speaker so Serena can hear too. 

“Ms Wolfe my clark has been to see the judge this morning, we have the papers and they have been signed, you are officially divorced from Mr Dunn and you will not have to go to the prison and see your ex-husband at all. The judge has favoured you in everything we put forward, the house has been sold and the money will be transferred as soon as you give me your bank details and come in and sign the paperwork.” Bernie drops her phone, her hands have lost all grip due to her shaking, silently crying from relief; relief that it is all finally over, relief that she can finally move on and build her life with Serena.   
Serena picks up the phone, check the call is still active and places it on Hansen’s desk, asking if she can put her on hold for a minute or two, the solicitor replies, “no need Ms Campbell, just pop in to the office at your earliest convenience and enjoy the rest of your day.” With that the solicitor ends the call and Bernie cuddles into her fiancé, “It’s over finally…… it’s all over.” She repeats over and over, Serena holds on to her tightly and lets her cry it out, offering soothing words in return, making sure that she knows she is loved. 

The bell goes, they leave the office, Serena to her own classroom via speaking to Jac letting her know that Bernie will be in after washing her face, Jac knows about the phone call they needed to make, but decided to bring a little of her humour in to break the tension, “why have you been leaving lipstick marks over her face again, you must go through so much lipstick Ms Campbell.” With that she blushes and playfully smacks her on her arm, Jac laughs as she walks away, “laters Campbell.” 

Bernie enters the classroom as the last child runs in from the playtime after putting balls away. “You’re late!” Jac scowls as he quickly finds his seat, he apologises and keeps his head down for the rest of the morning. Bernie loves science and for the rest of the morning its science that is until she realises they are talking about the skeleton and muscles in the human body. This is her bread and butter, what she should know off by heart and she does, but to put that into words for a 9 to 10 year old is completely different. Jac sets up the computer and asks Bernie to start them off, Bernie quickly thinks on where to start. She gets the class to stand and think about how many bones they have in their body, gets them to feel their own bodies, where they bend and why they bend, what and where could the smallest bone could be, allowing them to shower out answers but all getting them wrong, Jac has set up the interactive board but is enjoying watching the children try to work out the questions Bernie is excitedly firing at them for them in turn answering with enthusiasm. 

Jac gets her phone out and records Bernie, she is currently singing and dancing (well doing the actions) to the class, the skeleton song.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dancing bones.  
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dancing bones.  
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dancing bones.  
Doin' the skeleton dance

The foot bone's connected to the leg bone.  
The leg bone's connected to the knee bone.  
The knee bone's connected to the thigh bone.

Doin' the skeleton dance.

The thigh bone's connected to the hip bone.  
The hip bone's connected to the backbone.  
The backbone's connected to the neck bone.

Doin' the skeleton dance.

Shake your hands to the left.  
Shake your hands to the right.  
Put your hands in the air.  
Put your hands out of sight.  
Shake your hands to the left.  
Shake your hands to the right.  
Put your hands in the air.

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle,  
wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle,  
wiggle, wiggle... wiggle your knees.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dancing bones.  
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dancing bones.  
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dancing bones.  
Doin' the skeleton dance

All the children are following her, so as the song comes to an end, Jac quickly finds the youtube video and plays it again, “take it away Ms Wolfe…..and put more wiggle into it!” The phone again is ready and poised to film it, as the first time was a fluke, the second time is on purpose. She closely zooms in on Bernie’s backside as she wiggles, once the dance and song is finished she sends the video via WhatsApp to Serena, with a short text “some soft porn for you to watch when alone at night.”

Serena hears her phone but at the minute she can’t get to it, she hopes its the solicitor getting back in touch, she doesn’t check it until after the lunch bell goes, when as she bites into her sandwich she hits the play button wondering what on earth Jac would have sent her; subsequently spraying her mouthful of contents across the floor, just as Bernie walks in with her lunch box. Serena turns to her and laughs, her eyes quickly turned back to the screen as she laughs louder as she sees the close up of Bernie’s very nice pert bottom wiggling in sort of time with the music and the whole class following her. Serena sends off a quick reply before she picks up the strewn food and places it in the bin, Bernie hiding her face in her hands on her knees. Serena can see the redness in her ears, so she tries to make light of her embarrassment, “Ms Wolfe,” she purrs in her ear, “can I have a private viewing of that dance tonight, me on the bed, you naked and wiggling.” Bernie honks her loud laugh and finally meets Serena’s eyes as she calms laughing down, her own eyes growing darker by the second. “Ms Campbell, you can only see it if you are interested in anatomy, on how my body works, on how my body bends and moves, maybe even a little showing of the male extras too?” Serena coughs, her own body reacting to the words said by her lover, girlfriend and fiancé. A strangled “please Ms Wolfe” comes out, she leans forwards and places the softest, gentlest kiss she has ever given, a promise that tonight, or this weekend would not be like that.

The rest of the day goes quickly, Serena manages to get all of the children and Bernie in the car and to the solicitors before it closes. Bernie goes in and signs the necessary paperwork, confirms her bank details and thanks her solicitor for everything as she walks out with the divorce papers. They discuss the trial and being called to witness for the defence, she is reassured that any evidence that her or Serena has to make will backfire, “he is trying for insanity or its not my fault, its her fault all this happened.” With fingers used as bunny ears to emphasise the ridiculousness of it all. Bernie leaves feeling ten times lighter than this morning, she explains it all to Serena when she gets back home with a mug of tea in their hands, Serena smirks, maybe she will give evidence after all.

Tea is served, they talk about their day, Cam and Charlotte are both equally embarrassed by their mother’s dancing and singing of the skeleton song, but the year 6 class loved it; thats all they could talk about at break. Jason asks for a demonstration but Cam and Charlotte refuse her to do it, Jason can’t quite understand why as it was educational and he wanted to know. Serena tried and failed to explain that although it was educational, some things that mums do embarrass their children, that this is one of them. He doesn’t understand but thankfully he lets it go, for now anyway. Tonight is no bath night but Serena decides to grab a quick shower, she feels sticky after her afternoon of PE, she didn’t even change into her shirt and trousers afterwards as there was no need, they were heading home after the solicitors. Bernie waited for the shower to start before following her upstairs, telling the children that they were to stay downstairs and shout them if they were needed. They decided on a film tonight, so they don’t miss Bernie as she ascends the stairs mostly two at a time, taking a few deep breaths before entering the bathroom.

Serena feels a cool breeze against her skin as the shower door opens, she turns and smiles as Bernie quietly enters. “I thought we could start the celebrations early and I could show you my dance.” Bernie smirks, places her hands behind her head and wiggles her breasts. Serena pounces on her, pushing her up against the wall.

Tonight will be full of celebration and learning anatomy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want a laugh at the song and video here it is.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e54m6XOpRgU
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this lighter chapter xx


	33. Continues celebrations and a visit to the spa.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bernie and Serena finally get to the spa for their weekend away.

Saturday morning and after a brief spell all together the children were all packed off to Fletch and Raf’s for a weekend of fun, swimming kits included. Bernie had spent the early morning starting her assignments as she just wanted to spend this weekend with Serena, to celebrate their engagement and her divorce. To concentrate on their growing, fledgling relationship. The kids were originally only going for the day but Fletch asked the kids if they wanted to stay with them until they went to school on the Monday, all of them agreed including Jason, he was happy as long as he got chance to pack his bag for school and his aunty promised to bring him his usual packed lunch for a Monday; which of course wouldn’t be a problem as she had to do everyone else too. So school bags, swimming bags and wash kits in tow they leave to enjoy their action packed weekend.

Bernie and Serena sat in the living room with a hot mug of coffee each before heading themselves to the spa day, they couldn’t check in until 10:30am so they enjoyed the peace and quiet of the house before going themselves. Before they move off the sofa Serena joins their hands together, her thumb swirls over Bernie’s left hand, on her fourth finger and finds it is oddly missing something. There is a half eaten packet of Haribo’s on the coffee table and she spies a few treats left over, she places her mug on the table and reaches for the eggs first, they must be Jason’s from last night as he doesn’t like the eggs in Haribo’s, usually sharing them between Charlotte and Cam. She collects two of them and places them where her nipples are and jiggles her breasts at Bernie, keeping the eggs right where her nipples are; Bernie kisses her softly then swoops quickly down and covers her lips over Serena’s fingers and one of the eggs, sucking and licking them before claiming the sweet, she licks her lips and does exactly the same thing with the next one, “oh I love a slippery nipple” she exclaims to Serena and then kisses her again, the sweet taste lingering on both sets of lips and tongues. 

Bernie takes the mugs out and washes them, places them on the draining board to dry, Serena watches her leave and inspects the bag a little further, there are two love hearts, she takes them both along with another sweet…..  
You will have to wait to hear more about that later.  
So she takes the two love hearts and heads in the kitchen, watches at the door way as Bernie dries her hands, watches as she dries each finger individually, she folds the towel and turns, smiles to see Serena in her little daydream. Just as Bernie places her hands on Serena’s hips she takes a small step back and smiles nervously at her fiancé, never normally the romantic one in their relationship as so far it has always been Bernie, but just this once she wanted to say something, something heartfelt and meaningful. Once she has her nerves settled she steps forward again and looks into the hazel pools of Bernie’s eyes and sees love, affection and curiosity; Serena kisses the heart and places it on Bernie’s chest, right where her long scar is, Bernie waits, gives Serena time to say what she needs to say. She kisses the second heart and places in the centre of her chest with Bernie’s hand; Bernie keeps it there just like Serena’s is on hers still. After a few deep breaths she speaks. “These hearts, mine and yours, have been broken into pieces before, for different reasons. I promise to look after yours, restore and heal it, let it grow and live again, this to you I promise. You have already started to mend my heart and although we both know a small part will never heal, I also know that you will protect that part to. I want you to know that you complete me, have all my heart and my soul, forever.” Serena takes Bernie’s heart off her chest and swallows it whole, Bernie smiles and does the same, she wraps Serena into a hug and whispers into her ear, “I will forever love and protect you too Serena, you make me whole and complete. From this moment on you will always have someone to rely on and lean on, whenever you need. I love you.” A slow exploring kiss starts, Serena resting against the wall as Bernie presses her into it, they both moan into the kiss and spurs each other on, only the sound of the taxi arriving makes them part. Locking the door they head hand in hand to the taxi, making their way to the spa.

The ride to the spa wasn’t long but as they both know they would be drinking and they were heading to the restaurant tomorrow afternoon, neither would be safe to drive, so taxi it was. Serena sat by the window and Bernie sat in the middle, their bodies were so close a piece of tracing paper wouldn’t split them apart. Bernie entwined their fingers as soon as she got her seatbelt on and that was how they stayed until they had reached their destination, having donned on their costumes before they left all they had to do was check in and head straight back out again, which they did, heading straight for the pool; leaving the usher to take their day bags to their rooms. Serena took off her jogging bottoms and t-shirt that she knows Bernie loves as it shows off her curves nicely. Bernie however was in her yoga and jogging attire, the one that looks as though it is stitched on to her body, apart from the flowy top that hides her well toned body, Serena watches as she very slowly pulls off said flowy top, Serena licks her lips as it is taken over Bernie’s head and she quietly wolf whistles which earns her a smirk and said top being thrown in her direction, Serena takes it and carefully folds it over the back of the chair. As the layers are peeled off Serena’s eyes are bulging out of her head, Bernie is in a small bikini set, it is green and only just covers the necessary bits, as she turns around Serena sees that it too only just covers the cheeks of her arse, “oh I could just sink my teeth into it” Serena internally tells herself. Instead she gently smooths over the skin and gives it a gentle pat, “Oh you better be keeping them on for later, I’m going to have all the access I need with you wearing that.” With a wink she saunters off to the pool, dives rather elegantly in and swims the full length to the bottom and whistles for Bernie to join her, who stood there gobsmacked at what she said and the way her body glided down the pool. So out of her reverie she too walks to the deep end, dives in and swims to her lover, mostly underwater taking in what starts off to be a hazy view that soon turns clear, Serena in her leopard print swimming costume that has encased her bountiful breasts most exquisitely. As she arrives at her destination her fingers caress Serena’s legs and torso gently, wrapping her arms and legs around Serena brining her into a chaste quick kiss, enjoying doing this in the empty pool.

Bernie is soon backed to the wall and a now free hand slips under the dark green bikini bottoms straight into her folds to find her already slick and wet, and not from the pool water neither. Two fingers plunged in, just curling right she slowly thrusts with her wrist and fingers so not to make any ripples, not that it matters as the pool area is still empty. With each thrust her tongue moves, a caress to Bernie’s who is holding onto her tightly, rolling her hips to gain much needed friction, before things get any further they are interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice, well to Serena anyway. The voice of her long time very good friend Sian Korrs.

Serena turns so her back is to the friend, she hides her face in Bernie’s neck, kissing it, Bernie trying to hold back the orgasm that is building but she can’t, she moans loudly, so loudly that Ms Korrs turns around and shouts from the other side of the pool, “Serena Ballerina is that really you? Well isn’t this a turn up from the books, I thought Fleur here was lying to me when she was talking about a woman being on your arm now.” Bernie laughed and kissed her temple as Serena moaned in her neck, they turned around to not only see Sian but Fleur as well, “Oh hello again Wolfy! Oh what a day we can have, educating you about out lovely Serena here.” Serena was beetroot, the stories they could tell could make Bernie run to the high hills or laugh and at this point she didn’t know what was worse. “So much for a quiet romantic day.” Serena said just before she greeted her friends with a smile as Bernie places her feet back on the pool floor. 

“Fleur, Sian how lovely, now Sian meet my Bernie, Bernie meet the formidable Ms Sian Korrs, oh and don’t let your eyes stray to her……well her body is mostly implants.” “Well if you haven’t got it, buy it!” Sian retorts and perks her breasts and backside, to a blushing Bernie, Serena huffs at the stare that Bernie gives Sian. Bernie notices the slight jealousy and files it away for later. They sit around in the hot tub and have a good catch up on Sian’s latest love life, and the several in-between, Fleur’s new job prospects as deputy head if she decides to take it, she explains that if she does then most of her classes will be taken away and she really doesn’t want that. Bernie tells them about her latest assignments and what her concerns are, Serena and Fleur help her and Sian watches how they interact. There is one point where Serena glares at Sian for watching, no blazingly staring Bernie, Sian just shrugs her shoulders and goes back to ogling her fiancé. The more Sian stares the faster Serena’s heart rate and breathing gets, it gets so fast that Bernie turns and looks at her concerned, Serena just ups and leaves, using needing the toilet as an excuse. After a few minutes of her not returning Bernie goes in search of her, finding her on the floor of the toilets with tears in her eyes.

“Hey come on, what has brought this on?” Bernie asks sitting next to her, blocking the door so anyone that wants to come in cannot. Serena just turns her head away and asks if she fancies Sian, she throws her arms in the air and declares “who am I kidding, everyone facies Sian!” Bernie waits, she doesn’t speak, touch or breath loudly, she waits patiently for Serena to calm down, only she doesn’t, she gets more and more irate with the silence; she stands and walks around like a caged animal waiting to break free, Bernie stands too, still blocking the door way. Serena tries to get passed but Bernie silently stood her ground, “can we leave?” She asks defeatedly, Bernie shakes her head, she turns and pushes Serena in to the wall, the side that the door opens and kisses her fiercely, at first Serena doesn’t respond, it takes a few seconds, Bernie lifts her head, makes sure they make eye contact and goes back in. This time Serena does respond, gripping at Bernie at any point that she can, her hips, her back, her head, finally settling on her shoulders. Bernie’s body is pushing her into the tiled cold wall, only now she speaks through kisses, now she has Serena’s full attention. “I do NOT fancy Sian, she does NOT have your body, your face, your charisma, your smile, your eyes. I love you and I am so in love with you. Lets just spend today with them, tonight we will be by ourselves and we have all day tomorrow. Don’t let her ruin this, ruin us.” Serena’s breaths a sigh of relief, she apologises to which Bernie cuts her off with another kiss and “lets say no more about it!” They leave the toilets hand in hand, back to the seating area in the pool section, talking to Fleur and Sian as if nothing happened.

Meanwhile back at Raf and Fletch’s house the kids are having a whale of a time, they too had been swimming, having fun on the inflatables and being dunked before they could reach the end. Jason strategically made it the furthest after only trying twice as he was intently watching the others repeatedly fail, seeing where they went wrong at each stage, so when he got the furthest he was really happy, he wanted to keep trying but they had ran out of time. Raf promising that they could come again to play on the inflatables, Mikey asking if he could have a swimming party for his next birthday and Fletch promising to look into it on the way out.   
Evie asked if they could all camp out downstairs in the tents tonight, she wanted to see if Charlotte, Cameron and Jason would like to try camping sometime in the summer. Jason was unsure at first until they made arrangements that he could eat at a table and still have his pillow and blanket, in fact all of them had their own pillows and blankets so Jason wouldn’t feel different.   
On their way home they stopped off for some sausages, bread finger rolls, burgers and burger buns, cheese slices and marshmallows. “If we are camping we shall do it properly”. Fletch said, Raf was already thinking about setting the outdoor barrel up so they could sit outside by the camp fire if it was dry tonight, if not they would just have to make do with the log fire.  
Now tea time, the night sky was warm for a February so they lit the camp fire, placed racks from the oven over the top and started to cook the burgers and sausages; each taking it in turn to move them or turn them over. Once cooked they sat on camp chairs around the fire, Jason had the camp table where he was joined with Mikey and Raf; they sat and enjoyed their meat and bread filled tea, all topped with tomato sauce (and mustard for Raf and Fletch) and smores for their pudding. Jason watches carefully as the marshmallow starts to char slightly, he wants the marshmallow slightly charred all the way around, forming a light crust before he squashes it between two chocolate digestive biscuits. He helps Charlotte to do hers, she just enjoys eating hers separate from the chocolate biscuits, saving them for the hot chocolate they have before bed. Before they all know it, it is 9pm and they are all flagging and ready to sleep in their tents that they had set up earlier, the girls in one and the boys in the other. It didn’t take them long to fall asleep.

Meanwhile Sian and Fleur said their goodbyes just before their treatments after lunch, leaving the ladies finally alone, well as alone as they can be in a quickly filling spa. They decided to go for a walk around the grounds, Serena wanted to clear the air about what happened earlier. As they walked hand in hand through the wooded walkway Serena opened up about Sian. “Sian is my best friend along with Fleur, we went through Uni together before I left to go to Harvard.” Bernie’s eyebrows almost left her face, she didn’t know that Serena went to Harvard, she would ask her about that later. “Every partner I have had, she has tried to get, mostly succeeded…….She didn’t with the only one I would have expected to stray as he tended to do weekly, that was Edward, however he was usually around some nurse or junior doctor so maybe thats why.” Bernie’s heart sank for her fiancé, she didn’t know that Serena’s ex-husband cheated, just that he was a drunk but it made sense now. “So I get very wary and jealous when I see Sian leering at my partners and trust me today she had her eyes set on you!” Serena said taking her hand out of Bernie’s, she stood in front of her and stoked the fringe out of her eyes, found love shining back at her, “but you are different, I see that now. I bet you didn’t even notice Sian staring at you did you?” Bernie shook her head all while maintaining eye contact. “Did you even see her newly built assets?” Bernie smirked as she answered, “well you couldn’t of exactly missed them really could you? Her outfit for starters was two sizes too small and well her face could have melted if she went in the sauna.” Serena laughed and hugged Bernie, Bernie lifted her head and placed a series of small pecks to her lips, Serena played with the small curls at the base of Bernie’s head and deepened it, they stayed like that for several minutes, until the cool February air caught up with them as they had no jacket or coat on. With that they made their way around the woodland walk into the restaurant for a hot drink and a slice of cake, all now forgotten about and forgiven, with a lot more understanding.

They go back to their room early evening, enjoying the peace and the view from their balcony. There is music playing softly in the background, Bernie grabs the duvet off the bed and places it on the wicker furniture for them to sit on and wrap themselves around it. Tonight they talk about their past, their childhoods, parents that are no longer with them, Bernie hints about Marcus’ parents both elderly and still alive, to what she knows of.   
Serena tells Bernie about the struggle she had with her mum and the Alzheimers, why she has the scars on her back and how she had to go into hospital as some of the wounds got infected, how she was suspected of abusing her mother until they saw first hand what she was like. How she attacked her in the middle of the ward, luckily they helped to secure funding for a home that specialises in dementia care but soon after that she had a massive stroke and died. Bernie held her tight as she wept, wept for Elinor and wept for the loss of her mother which happened only 6 months before Ellie died tragically. For once they didn’t need to have a drink, they just needed to be in each others arms. Tired and comfortable, they headed in to their room and fell asleep in entwined as always.

The following day after breakfast they enjoyed a few spa treatments. Bernie had an Indian head massage that made her hair even messier than usual, Serena taking a few photo’s for her own personal memory. Serena having a hand and foot massage, every time the masseur hits a certain spot Serena moans, that deep throaty moan that sends shivers down Bernie’s spine and to somewhere else, we all know where that is! 

After their morning spa treatments they head out for another walk, this time to the outdoor heated plunge pool, where they were alone. Bernie entered the water and held out her womanly hand for Serena to take as she steps in. Once in they both dunk down until their shoulders are beneath the water, Serena watching Bernie as she bobs up and down rippling the water and disturbing her view. She clearly admiring the new bikini of the day, this time a dark purple one, very similar in style to the one yesterday. She takes a look around and cannot see anyone anywhere near, just the sounds of the birds chattering. Serena reaches out under the water and pulls on the neatly tied bow on Bernie’s bottoms, then reaches the for the string on the other side. Bernie appearing to be none the wiser and her bikini bottoms are floating around even when Serena tucks them in her costume. Todays costume for Serena is a plain black halter neck with red beading around the edges and a high leg cut. 

Next Serena tries to undo the tie around the neck but she can’t do it without Bernie noticing “what the heck” she internally says as she kisses Bernie and pulls the string, Bernie leans forward to bring Serena closer which gives her access to the one at her back, with the last string on Bernie’s top undone she places her hands so she can use her thumb pads to graze over the erect pert nipples as Bernie’s top floats around. Bernie’s eyes open wide as she does this, with a smirk Serena pinches and pulls on the nipple before dipping her head below the water and taking one in her mouth to suck on until she needs to come up for air. Bernie pulls Serena’s hips further into her and arches her back so her breasts push against Serena’s face and fingers. Their hips roll in time and when Serena does come up for air, she lifts Bernie up so she is sitting on her thighs that are tucked under herself, pressing her against the pool wall; her nipples now just above water level and are once again taken into her mouth. Bernie holds onto the edge of the pool and makes herself available to Serena’s ministrations. Bernie finds herself not able to stop the noises, she is moaning for more and Serena gives it to her; she does exactly what Bernie asks for. She delves three fingers in and uses her thumb to apply pressure directly onto Bernie’s clit, Bernie thrusts herself up and down on Serena’s steady fingers, the quietness of where they are is now slightly more noisy with the water slopping over the sides, Bernie’s moans and pleads….. “don’t stop, just stay like that, more pressure, oh god Serena” and much more. When she comes it is silent, she is down fully on Serena’s hand just rolling her hips as Serena flutters her fingers like a wave, she doesn’t stop until Bernie lifts herself off Serena altogether and immerses herself fully in the water.

Bernie raises up out of the water and stalks over to Serena, Serena gulps when she sees how dark and blown Bernie’s eyes are, she watches the droplets of water cascade between and over her breasts that are standing even more to attention as now out fully in the cold air, the water reaching half way between Bernie’s breasts and her navel. Serena braces herself but what she didn’t expect was to be lifted onto the edge of the plunge pool. Her legs opened wide and her gusset moved to the side swiftly as Bernie attaches her lips straight into her clit. Serena’s fingers went straight to Bernie’s head, gripping and holding her in place, she wraps her legs over Bernie’s shoulders. After a short while she can’t keep herself upright so lays back on the cool stone, her legs remaining over Bernie’s shoulders but her knees open wider giving more access and hopefully fingers. Bernie must have known exactly what Serena wanted because thats exactly what she did; she starts off with two then three and finally four. Bernie wanted to try the full fist but Serena came with a suppressed shout and growl. As she relaxed, Bernie dragged her back into the warm plug pool into her arms, they shared kisses before Bernie redressing, well Serena replacing the gusset back to its place as they head inside to get ready for and leave for their evening meal.

The children have had a fab day at the local wildlife park. Taking time to see the deers and wolves that are roaming around. There is a meerkat area which Evie and Charlotte loves, they just say “simples” to every meerkat that rears its head above the mound. Fletch takes a few photographs and sends them to Bernie and Serena, there is even one where Jason was holding an owl that had been rescued but as he had a damaged wing he was unable to fly. Cameron was fascinated with the alpaca’s, he couldn’t understand that their coats could also be used for wool the same as sheep; he didn’t believe Raf when they said they have to have an hair cut every now and then just like sheep do. He didn’t believe that sheep needed to be cut, he thought that they got the wool when they killed the sheep for food. It took two sanctuary workers to convince him and promise him that they never eat any of their animals.   
After the wildlife park they headed for a carvery at the children’s request knowing they get ice cream afterwards if they eat all their veg. Fletch and Raf were never going to complain about an all you can eat carvery with a pudding for afterwards. After food they headed home for the queue for the bathroom as showers commenced. The girls had one bathroom, the boys the other and Fletch and Raf had their own, so after all it wasn’t too bad. They started to talk about the house they visited down the street, Fletch knew the owner so decided to make a quick phone call to see if he could secure the buy for Bernie and Serena at a reduced price. Not only that they would be practically neighbours and thought that too was great in itself. So once the kids were in bed, not in tents, he made the call. 

Bernie and Serena got dressed up at the spa before they ordered their taxi to take them to the restaurant. Before they left Serena got out a small clear bag and sat facing Bernie rather than next to her. She took Bernie’s left hand and placed on it a Haribo ring, the one she got from Jason’s left over sweets the day before; with a promise that very soon she would, no they would go out and get a ring for her. Bernie’s eyes welled up, in the grand scheme of things she never thought about an engagement ring for herself, she just wanted Serena to have one as a promise, a symbol of their pending marriage and the never ending love she has for her. Bernie acknowledges that Serena wants to do this for her, if that is what Serena wants thats is what she will have. But for now she promised to wear the ring until then. With that they waited at reception for their taxi, leaving their luggage behind promising to collect it after work tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a note to say thank you for those who comment and who have pressed the kudos button. I hope you continue to enjoy the rest of this story xx


	34. Their meal, their date.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They enjoy a meal for two until someone tries to spoil it.

The intimacy of the restaurant is clearly shown, the tables adorned with white tablecloths and tea lights, a vase in the centre with a fresh red rose in it. Each table has two chairs around them, far enough apart to have a private conversation without being overheard but close enough together to keep the atmosphere warm and exciting. The Maitre D shows them to their table, they are in the back corner furthest away from the door, with a bottle of shiraz already breathing and slightly chilled, Serena pleased and knew that Bernie must of called ahead but somehow but she seems very surprised too. The Maitre D must have seen Bernie’s confusion so he mentioned that a little birdie told him that the ladies enjoy a glass or too of the shiraz so hence their finest was set on the table and already paid for. Serena looked around she found no one that they recognised, they didn’t even tell anyone that they were coming here, not even their children. The Maitre D sat them down, placed the napkins on their laps and left them to look over the menu. 

Their hands gravitated towards one another, their fingers entwining as they silently looked to see what they fancied, apart from each other that is. Serena lifted her eyes and looked at Bernie, her brow still burrowed, she had a sickening feeling all of a sudden and didn’t know why, her knees were bouncing, her body clearly on edge as she tried to take in the items on the menu. Serena strokes her thumb and squeezes, Bernie lifts her head and cautiously speaks, “something is off Serena. I cant quite put my finger on it, but my gut is saying to leave now.” Just as she finishes Serena spots what she thinks is a man watching them through the window, her breath hitches as he moves from out of the shadows, Bernie turns around to see what Serena has spotted. It was Robbie.

He is standing in the waiters uniform, smirking as he is standing outside having a fag, purposefully staring at them. Bernie goes to get up to confront him but Serena pulls her back down as their hands never parted, she shook her head and called over the Maitre D, she explains the issue that they have with the waiter and they leave, not a penny being spent. Robbie continues to watch them as they get into a taxi, heading home; or so Serena thinks. 

Just about a mile away from home, on the outskirts of the town centre, Bernie gets the taxi to pull over. She pays the fare and holds her hand out for Serena to take as she disembarks. They head around the corner to a Indian Restaurant which Bernie has heard good things about from Dom but has never had the opportunity to go, it’s also not as romantic as she would like but that really didn’t matter as long as they could enjoy the food and their own company with a bottle of wine or too, for once without the children or having to be home on a curfew. Serena smiles as she takes her seat, Bernie tucking her in, Serena surprises her by choosing a larger instead of wine, stating that “larger goes far better with a curry than wine would ever do so……”, so Bernie too orders a pint. Their starters of onion bhaji’s with a cool mint sauce are to die for, the three little bundles of deliciousness are devoured with moans and smiles, a stark difference from when they were at the last restaurant. Bernie’s chicken tikka skewers come out sizzling on the hot plate while Serena’s lamb bhuna comes out in a dish, a fresh white plate and a side plate of mushroom rice. They share their meals between them, Serena enjoying the minty lamb sauce as she dips in her freshly made garlic naan bread in it, offering Bernie a scoop which she takes with her mouth alone all while looking deeply in Serena’s eyes. Mid way through they order another pint from the passing waiter, Serena sneaks a piece of chicken off the skewer and a chip and winks at Bernie as she eats it, playfully acting as if she is hurt by the stolen food, so in retaliation she dips a empty skewer directly into a piece of lamb, she licks the sauce of it before taking the piece whole in her mouth and licking her lips afterwards.   
Then along came puddings, they shared the sticky doughnut balls covered in syrup, feeding each other instead of themselves while enjoying the smell of the Tia Maria coffee liquor. The bill is paid and they walk hand in hand home, Serena using her key to let themselves in, both tired and happy. After all the night could have ended so differently.

The next morning they both found it very strange that they are not begging and pleading with their children to get ready, just had to do their lunch boxes. The only contact they had with them over the weekend was the few photo’s Raf and Fletch had sent them, not even a phone call from Jason to say goodnight which meant he is very comfortable at Raf and Fletch’s home. So with minimum effort and maximum efficiency they headed off to school with time to spare to collect their bags from the spa, thanking them for keeping them safe. On the journey they talked about what happened the night before with Robbie, he must of seen their names on the booking so instigated the bottle of shiraz, both admitting that they were glad they hadn’t ordered any food before he was spotted but felt that even though he was there he didn’t actually ruin their night.

At school they were greeted by the children, Jason is eager to tell them what they had been doing, Charlotte asked if they had a good time at the spa and wondered what treatments they had, Cam just wanted to play football with his friends which he was sent off to do, knowing they would catch up with him tonight.   
Bernie was with Ric and Jason this week. Ric had sent her they itinerary for the upcoming week, she was to teach music and PE which is on Thursday, he also asked her to plan something for the maths day on Tuesday.   
Maths day is where the whole school do a day of maths activities, so she starts to put her plan into some sort of action, she goes to speak to Ric about what she has planned hoping that he would agree that she could take over the whole maths morning.

Jason takes well to Bernie being in his class, he only slipped up a few times by calling her, her name and not Ms Wolfe. He explained that he is finding it difficult to switch to the professional name but he will try and not make the mistake again. Ric, Fletch and Bernie reassure him that it is fine as long as he didn’t mind being taught like any other pupil. “Thats fine, that is what I want. I don’t want any special treatment apart from having Fletch helping me.” Bernie smiled and left them to it. 

After morning break they were doing history, still on the Roman Era, their project was to work in teams to design and make a shield which had been started before the weekend. Bernie went around the class asking what the designs stand for, some explaining what they had found when doing research on the internet or in book, some just designed their own and explained the reason behind it, Jason was methodical in his research and planning. He was not happy as he wasn’t allowed to use authentic materials but he understood that the cost would be too expensive so he would use the materials supplied by the school. What he does do however is to write down in every detail what materials they would have used and why it was shaped the way that it was. He remembers talking to the Roman actors at the reenactment, thankful for asking the questions now, even though he didn’t get to ask all of them.

Ric leaves the classroom for a short period, he needs to speak to Hansen about something or other, Bernie told him that she would cope. As soon as Ric left and was half way down the corridor some of the children started to act up, in her ‘Major’s’ voice she shouted for them to “pack it in otherwise you will have no playtime after lunch.” They all must of believed her as they all went straight back to their work, Bernie and Fletch gave a knowing cheeky smile to each other. She knew she got this teaching business down ok. They both knew that it was a test, Ric’s class always played up when they had a supply teacher or was left with a classroom assistant for any length of time, so even he was surprised to find the whole class with their heads down, still working hard. “Well Ms Wolfe, I would like to know how you scared my lot into behaving while I left the room for nearly an hour?” He asked in earshot of Jason who couldn’t help himself but to answer “she told them to ‘pack it in or we have no playtime at lunch.” Ric laughed and walked away, as he did Ryan asked him if Ms Wolfe could really stop them having playtime, “well yes Ryan, she is more likely to make you do a full hour of exercise too, just like they do in the army.” Bernie laughs at his statement as Ryan’s eyes go wide and he scurries back to his seat, muttering his findings to his friends.  
When the bell goes for lunch they all sit quietly looking at Bernie to be dismissed, she does so with a smile, only laughing properly after they have all left the classroom. Serena comes in search for her, wondering why Fletch, Ric and Bernie are in stitches.

Lunchtime as always is spent huddled together in Serena’s classroom, she was telling Serena what Jason was unhappy about so she had some knowledge before they got into the car. Serena rolled her eyes, Jason could sometimes be a stickler for things like this. He was definitely going to complain later. Serena spoke about not having Morven in her class today, she was needed with Arthur, he was out at a doctors appointment she thinks. Morven had sent Serena a text saying that neither of them would be back in today and would explain more tomorrow. They both were really worried about their friends, hoping that it was something as simple as an infection. 

Cam came tumbling through the doors, spluttering how his friend had been hurt while playing football; he was telling them rapidly that he can see a bone coming through his skin and that there is blood everywhere. Bernie sprung up and followed the noise, the child was screaming and no wonder. He had a open fracture to his lower legs and it needed setting straight away as it was rapidly turning blue. Essie had already called an ambulance, the spare staff had got all of the children inside, so Serena, Bernie and Henrik all dealt with the young mans injuries.   
When the ambulance arrived it was buzzed through the gates and the paramedics taken to where they boy was lying. Bernie couldn’t let go of the youngsters leg to show them the injury as she needed to pull the bones back into line, she needed to make sure that they had the right tension before she could let go. Serena made sure that the wound was bandaged as Bernie instructed while Henrik kept the boy warm and calm. Serena has never actually seen him flustered ever, well except for when Sian came on to him at a party that is. Before they could go back to their class, they needed to take statements from the children who saw what happened so each of them took 5 children each for quickness. It was just a bad tackle, and the boy fell funny. A pure accident. By the time they were finished it was time for afternoon break and then assemble.

Assemble was a subdued event. The children were asking about their friend and Henrik was explaining the best he could while trying to reassure them. He watched Bernie, she had rushed to his side, helped immensely, further than any other first aider would have done, he wondered how she actually knew what to do in such an occasion. Not for the first time. She was like this over Charlotte, Bernie knew what she was suffering from even before the paramedics arrived or the doctors saw her. Her churned over what was stated on her CV. It clearly said that she was a Major in the Army, he planned to ask her in more detail, or ask Serena. Her references too were from high ranking officers in the Army, maybe that could shed some light on her background, but for now assemble was his priority.  
He was floundering through the questions the children asked, on why they could see his bone so Bernie stood up, there were some gardening canes left out so she excused herself to go and get two of them. She broke the cane and showed what had happened to the boys leg and what happens now. It is all put in a simple language that they all can understand and doesn’t finish until everyone has asked all the questions they wanted. As assemble over ran, they children were told they could have the few minutes left of the day to play games in their classrooms. Bernie was asked to go straight to the office.

“Take a seat please Ms Wolfe, I would like a few minutes of your time to clarify a few things and to see how you are going?” Bernie takes the seat offered, she thinks to herself ‘its like being in the headmasters office when you have done nothing wrong but have been accused of beating up a enemy.’ “How can I help Mr Hansen.” Bernie responded instead, trying to hold her nerves. He asked about how she knew exactly what to do, the fact that she gave clear and precise instructions to them both, that made the young boy somewhat better almost instantly. She twisted her hands, she knew she had given the game away so decided to just come out with it. “I am a doctor………actually I am a trauma surgeon. I was in the RAMC, part of the Army for many years, I joined up straight after I left school. When I turned 21 I was asked to sit for my officers, I did and passed top of my class. After the war I taught in the local hospitals, where Marcus worked and that was that really. I came out trying to save my marriage. It clearly didn’t work, I didn’t even last 24 hours out of the army.” Henrik could see she was getting quite upset but asked her to clarify again that she was a doctor, when she nodded he found it difficult to respond. She filled in the gaps.   
“When I was sent here, after what happened with Marcus, I couldn’t practice medicine otherwise he could find me too easily, even in police custody. I didn’t want to change my name as I am well known in the medical world and if I did that someone would soon spot who I was anyway. So I not only left the Army behind but I left my medical career behind. Which now I am grateful for, as I am now here, training to be a teacher and living with my fiancé.” ‘Oh shit!’ Ran through her mind immediately. She had spilt the beans. Henrik’s smile grew, he shook her hand and congratulated her, asking why they hadn’t told anyone but he could hazard a guess why, so promised to keep the secret until they were ready to tell people. With that she was dismissed just as the bell to end the school day rang.

The journey home was full of talk of their day, Jason was not happy about not doing a ‘proper’ roman shield but was looking forward to maths day tomorrow. Serena wasn’t so much looking forward to it, hopefully she would have Morven back to help. Charlotte was singing to herself, happily in her own world, doing small dance moves as she goes. They ate their teas, had showers, drank the hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows before heading to bed for story time. 

Tomorrow was going to be busy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're not bored yet xx


	35. Good or Bad News?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone has some bad news.  
> Welcome to Maths Day.

Morven came into school red eyed and rather silent, she gave pleasantries to all of the people in the staffroom but stayed away and not conversed at all. Arthur was the same, only keeping his conversations to school matters and avoiding his best friend altogether. Dom was wondering what on earth he has done, he racked his brains and spoke to Bernie, seeing if she had picked up on something but she hasn’t a clue. If she was honest she was worried about how this morning was going to go, she was baking with the children for maths day. Well no actual baking but in the end they would end up with a sweet treat, a treat that would have their sugar intake for the week in one hit. They only thing they actually needed to cook as such, was to melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan. Bernie was so busy making sure she had enough of everything for the children she didn’t even notice that Dom had left, he left her to it and tried to go and speak to Morven instead.

Morven was talking to Serena, well if sobbing on her shoulder is talking well then yes. Dom almost ran over to her and pulled her into his arms, freeing Serena to prepare for Dom’s fall. Arthur couldn’t tell his best friend the news, Morven was to do it but she can’t. She has avoided Dom so far this early morning and smelling his aftershave and hearing his voice made her worse. Serena pulled them over to the store cupboard, placed 2 small chairs in there and plonked a sobbing Morven down on the chair before turning to Dom, taking a deep breath and sent his world crashing around him. He stumbled in shock the rest of the way into the store room he fell onto the chair and fell off the other end, making Morven laugh and then return to crying almost immediately again. Serena held out her hand for him to get up off the floor in the small room to sit next to his friend. Both consoling each other.   
She needed to go and speak to Henrik before the busy maths day starts.

Knocking on the headmasters door, not waiting for an answer she steps in, closing the door behind her before Henrik managed to turn around in his chair. Her expression gave him a clue that he would not like what he was about to hear and he really didn’t. He bowed his head, tightened his fingers on his thighs and as he looked up, he couldn’t quite look at Serena who was as stoic as ever. Once the news had settled, he had a few questions to which she couldn’t answer, only Arthur or Morven could answer them, maybe even Raf or Bernie. “Oh, please don’t ask Bernie just yet, I haven’t had chance to tell her and I would like to be the one to that tonight.” “Of course. Thank you Ms Campbell.” With that she left to get her class ready. Before leaving she spoke to Henrik and agreed to have her class with Dom’s, finding a way to work them both in. Sending the new teaching assistant to work with her in her class and sending Morven to Arthur’s class, today of all days they needed to be together.

Ric was enjoying a cup of tea in the staffroom, not having to worry about his class this morning at all this morning, leaving it all to Bernie as requested. He knew that Bernie deep down had it all under control, she thought that she had it under control, until she realised she had nowhere in the classroom to do the activity of melting the butter or chocolate, so off she went to the kitchen, begging the staff for help. Luckily they had enough equipment to spare, if the children worked in groups of 4, they would be able to get it all done if they took it in turns. With a quick peck on the cheek to Angela, the main cook she skipped back to her class, packing up all of the ingredients to the school hall, to where the lesson now was going to take place.  
There was one condition of them using the kitchen and hall, that the class was to set up the tables and chairs for lunchtime, that they could do……no problem.

The bell rang, all staff vacated their rooms to collect the children from outside, completed their registers and headed to the hall, the assemble is to be held this morning, leaving them free to enjoy their maths day. All of the children were excited, they loved days like this, although it did throw Jason off kilter a little, but Serena was hoping that having Bernie and Fletch in the class may ease his anxieties over the change of routine. His day has already got off to a bad start when they were told to go back to the classroom to pick up their booklets, pens and pencils only to get ready to go back to the hall, he had fell over, someone had tripped him over by accident, they had fell onto Jason after getting caught treading on their shoe laces. He had hurt his arm when he broke his fall, arms out stretched because of this Fletch sent him to Ric to get it looked at, him sending Jason straight back to class but he had struggled to write for the rest of the morning.

Bernie stood at the front of the hall, asked the children to help set out the tables and chairs, to sit in their sets and get ready to write some instructions down, Fletch having to do it for Jason as his hand was swelling now, despite the ice pack resting over it. Once the baking (mixing) instructions were all given out and all questions asked, Bernie led them over to the far side of the hall where she had had laid out all of the items on one table, in pairs they had to go and collect the right ingredients and measure them out before heading back to their station. Bernie and Ric making sure that they measured everything correctly, helping if they needed it. The first group was done and they were told what to do next, being sent to Angela for the next stage, melting the butter and chocolate, wearing a paper chefs hat and an apron. Once they had melted the chocolate and butter they came back into the hall to switch places with another pair, then they continued with the next stage of making tiffin. 

The children enjoyed breaking 7 digestive biscuits with a rolling pin, but Jason was confused as he had 2 left over, in fact they all had 2 left over. Bernie asked them to leave them to one side for later but his continuous questioning was wearing her down, even Fletch tried to get him to concentrate on the mixing and baking but he needed to know where these 2 extra biscuits were to go as they weren’t in the instructions anywhere. She took Jason to one side, swore him to secrecy and told him that later on they were going to eat them after making smores but only if he didn’t say anything to anyone and everyone followed her instructions to the letter, like a test to see if they could and nit just go all gung ho. Jason reluctantly agreed and headed back to his station after moaning again that his hand was sore, Bernie giving him 1 paracetamol after sending Serena a quick text to let her know. Before they knew it, it was break time. The children sent out to play after placing their aprons and hats neatly on their chairs they headed out to play, apart from Jason as Bernie wanted a proper look at his wrist.

Bernie and Serena sat with Jason in the nurture room, Serena made the coffee’s and brought them in along with Jasons fruit and juice. She watched as Bernie carefully manoeuvred his wrist, watching Jason pull a face when he was asked to make a fist and move his thumb. “I think a trip to A&E is needed Jason. I shall ask Fletch to stay here and get your Aunty Serena to take you. Hopefully you will be back before the school day is finished.” He wasn’t happy, he asked if he could stay at school and finish the school day, promised that he would be ok when the paracetamol started to work. Neither Serena or Bernie were happy but they asked him to promise to tell them if the pain got too much, Bernie placed it in a sling to keep it elevated and told him that Fletch will do the rest of the baking, under his very watchful eye.

The bell goes to signal break is over, Bernie collects the children from outside, getting them to wash their hands before coming into the hall to continue with their measuring. All of the other classes were envious as they were the only one doing maths a little differently. Even Jac tried to get a quick taste of the children’s mixtures but was kept away by the screaming playful kids, only just. Some of the children needed a hand to mix the biscuit in as it soaked up the butter and became stiff, they added in the extra’s, some opted for dried fruit and some asked for mini marshmallows. Once it was all combined they had to put it in the foil trays and place it in the fridge with their names on the cardboard lid. Then they were ready for the next stage, caramel and chocolate. Before that though they were all asked to go into the kitchen to Angela and take the large marshmallow that is on the stick and wait for further instructions. 

Angela took them all outside to where there is a burning half barrel, she has borrowed it from their local scout hut, got it all started while they were out playing at break time so now it was very hot. She got out her thermometer and got them to try and read it, the fire was over 140 degrees at the edges and would be a lot hotter in the centre. Angela moved it up so they could all see the temperature go down but as she took it closer to the fire, the temperature went up again. Bernie gave them all a small thermometer (old fashioned ones) asked them all to put it underneath their arm pit and leave it there for 2 minutes. Once the two minutes were up and their marshmallows nice and toasted they squashed it between the digestive biscuits and looked at their temperatures. They all noticed that they were about 36 degrees, Bernie stating that 36 to 37 degrees is normal, if it is higher or lower than that, then they are unwell. The children tucked into their smores and had a quick sing song before heading inside to complete their tiffin, preferably before the lunchtime bell but it was going to be a tight squeeze.

Back in the hall, sticky faces all round they got their toppings. They measured out the pre made caramel sauce before pouring it over the tiffin base, then melted the chocolate to pour over it. Once this was done and they all thanked Angela, they could play in the hall after getting the rest of the tables and chairs ready for the dinner ladies.   
Bernie was watching Jason carefully, his arm was clearly hurting him but if she said anything to him, he said he was ok to continue with school. She wasn’t convinced and neither was Fletch. As soon as the lunchtime bell rang the class was told to go and place their tiffin in the classroom on their desks and head to get their lunches; Bernie sat with Serena who was rather subdued and tired, the new teaching assistant really didn’t have much of a clue how to deal with the older section of the school, she tried mothering them rather than guiding them to find their own solutions which infuriated Serena to no end.

“I have some rather bad news Bernie, but I don’t want to tell you here. Can we make some time tonight, when the children are in bed?” Serena asked, tears welling up in her eyes at just the thought of the conversation that she needed to have. Bernie nodded, wiped the stray tears with the pads of her thumbs, holding Serena’s face gently, giving her a small kiss of reassurance. Serena spent most of the lunch time leaning on Bernie, tucking her head under Bernie’s chin and talking about their day so far while eating their packed lunches. Bernie spoke on how Serena will definitely have to take Jason to A&E straight after school, Bernie saying she would drop them off while Charlotte and Cam were doing gymnastics and football. She had plenty of time to drop Serena and Jason off at the hospital and come back to pick up the children, to make a start on some tea before collecting them and bringing them home. Fletch came in, he wondered if he could take Jason to the hospital but after a phone call with Raf, it had to be Serena as she had guardianship of him; the legalities in it mean that only she can give permission to treat Jason accordingly unless they go through a solicitor and get the courts to agree for someone else to do it in place of Serena. Serena promising to look into it sooner rather than later.

After lunch Ric took over and Bernie helped, the children rather unhappy with the change, all moaning that Bernie’s lesson was far more fun.   
Serena’s class was doing work around time, looking at the different time zones there are and why they have them. One state in America has 2 time zones, they have to remember to change the time accordingly when they cross a road to the different time zone. Serena telling them a funny story about when she was late for her flight home after not realising that there was a time difference in this one state and her flight left an hour earlier. This was when she lived in Boston and studied at Harvard. Then to top it off she caught the wrong train, she was going the opposite direction of where she should have gone, ended up stranded in a corn field in Iowa. Luckily a lovely lady who states that she is very much 39 and only just had that birthday a few days ago, managed to put her up for the night until she could get the next flight to Boston.

The objective of their afternoon lesson was, they had to look at the times zones, firstly in the eastern countries and Asia. China, Japan and Thailand. China is 8 hours in front of us, Japan is 9 hours in front and Thailand is 7 hours in front of us. Then there are the countries on the opposite side of the world, Australia (12 hours ahead of us), New Zealand (13 hours ahead of us) and Antartica who is between 5 hours ahead of us in the UK and 8 hours, depending on where.   
They also had to independently research which country would celebrate seeing in the new year first and last. Elise and Penny getting it right 1st, helping the others where to find the information if they were struggling (answers on a postcard please).

The afternoon playtime bell went and a weary Serena flopped down on her chair until Bernie came in with her coffee and a slice of tiffin she had made, a much needed sugar rush. Jason came through about 5 minutes before the bell was going to go, asking if he could have anymore pain relief as his arm was hurting again. He still refused to go to the hospital until after the school day, promising to go straight after, missing out on science after school. Serena gave him a ibuprofen tablet and asked him to take the rest of the afternoon easy but she knew he would do what he could. He loved maths and science because it was logical, a right and a wrong, no in-between. Serena is convinced that if it was any other day he would have left when he did it or when Bernie said he should go and Bernie agreed with her.

The final bit of the afternoon went quickly. All classes recapped and went over anything that was a little tricky. A series of small tests and they were all done. Serena, Bernie and Jason all in the car, heading to the hospital as soon as the bell rang. 

As Bernie pulled into the drop off zone by the entrance to A&E, they saw Raf standing outside, waiting for them. Fletch had put in a word to say that they were heading in with Jason, they were thankful to Fletch for this as Raf knew that Jason wouldn’t like a noisy environment, he quickly got them through the doors leaving Bernie to check him in while he did the initial assessment in the quietest area of childrens A&E.   
A&E was full today, full of odd things happening, Raf was sure it was a full moon tonight but Jason as wise as ever stated it wasn’t and people were just clumsy, which made Raf chuckle. He had already pre-booked the x-ray when he found out what had happened and the way that he fell from Fletch, Serena was grateful for the discrete phone call, this meant that they would hopefully be in and out without Bernie having to go back to pick Cam and Charlotte up only for her to pick them up again afterwards. 

The x-ray was done quickly, Raf waited around for the images and broke the news gently that Jason needed to be in plaster as he had a hairline fracture to his radius and a small break in his thumb. Jason’s clear distress made for a very quick meltdown; all he could focus on was the things he couldn’t do while in plaster, mainly his school work. Nothing that Raf or Serena could say would calm him down, in the end Raf had to fetch Bernie who was reading a very out of date magazine in the waiting room. Raf called Fletch while he was out there after showing Bernie where to go to get to Jason, he got Fletch to go back to school to fetch Cam and Charlotte and bring them to the hospital, hoping that Cam too can calm him down. 

In the end Bernie had to have the half cast put on first, then Raf did Jason’s. He had to stay in the temporary cast for 2 days then had to come back to the fracture clinic where he would have a full one on, showing him the colours he could pick from. Bernie and Cam promised to draw on it as soon as they got home, Cam was going to write all of the planets in order and then draw a viking helmet on it for him. Serena couldn’t see the point for 2 days but if it kept Jason calm then she would be ok with it. There yet maybe another meltdown on Thursday when they come back to the fracture clinic and she would be alone, with Jason.

On the way home they picked up a take away of Jason’s choice, fish and chips and headed home. They all were quite tired so tea, shower and bed was in order but before the ladies went to bed, Serena had to tell Bernie some devastating news. Bernie grabbed them both a glass of wine, she new that what ever Serena needed to say, it wasn’t good, it was about Morven and as she nicknamed him Diggers. “Arthur has stage 4 bowel cancer that has already spread to his lungs and lymph nodes. He has being going to and from the doctors and hospital since September, tried tablet chemotherapy, had a small operation, it should have been bigger but they stopped after finding them already in the lymph nodes and further up his bowel tract.” Bernie sighed, her head in her hands as she wept. Serena leaning over her back in tears too, finally allowing herself to let go. Bernie needed to move as her back was protesting, Serena ending up with her head in her lap as Bernie quietly processed the information asking questions as they popped up, Bernie hazarding a very good guess. “How long has he got?” She asked, Bernie looked down, their eyes met, “months, maybe weeks.” Serena lifted herself up, sat and tucked herself around Bernie as they cried once more. 

They were just about to go to bed themselves when Bernie’s mobile was ringing, it was a very drunk Dom. He was sitting outside his local pub, the barman gave the address of the pub he was slumped outside and she went to collect him. Having to shove him in a cold shower to sober him up while Serena made him a very strong and sweet coffee. He couldn’t apologise enough for disturbing them, the children but they rebuffed his apology as none were needed really. Serena knew she should have taken more care of him but Jason needed her tonight. They talked until the early hours, Dom taking refuge on the sofa bed while the ladies had a very restless night in bed.

The children were delighted and surprised to find Mr Copeland on their sofa in the morning, which in a way for him it was good too, distracting him from awful thoughts. He needed to speak to Arthur, at school wasn’t the place so he was formulating a plan. He spoke to Lofty his partner and organised a few drinks at his house at the weekend, all staff invited and no excuses. If Arthur was going to leave this planet soon, he was going to do it with a bang. Diggers loved history, especially the battle of Waterloo, that was the theme for this weekends get together.


	36. Knowing my fate is to be with you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The impromptu party for Arthur

Morven had quietly spoken to Dom, he has an idea and with his help and a few others as he saw fit, maybe just maybe they could pull this all off. It after all was supposed to be a celebration and not a wake. Dom had spent Thursday evening with Arthur, Morven had somewhere to be after school and didn’t want to leave him on his own; Dom was the obvious choice as they had been best friends even before Morven was in the picture. They spent their night reminiscing about Uni days, karaoke when they did a duet and Arthur kissed Dom at the end to show support to his as he came out to his parents, his mum already knew but his dad disapproved immensely and had plenty to say about the whole thing, not in a good way either. They talked about Isaac and how Arthur was glad to help him get away from him, helped him find lofty who in all of this is more devastated about Arthurs prognosis than Dom is. The three musketeers as they are commonly known in the local gay bar have a tremendous following, mainly on karaoke night, Lofty has a great voice and has been known to tread the boards in local productions which is where Dom first saw him. He happened to play Joseph in Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat; Dom had waited outside the stage door and they talked, went for a drink and talked some more and on the final night Lofty asked Dom out.

Morven had been a while, she had snuck around to do some late night shopping for the Saturday, dropping them off at Serena and Bernie’s so they could bring them to school, stopping for a small glass of wine before leaving and making up some games for the party. She filled them in on what she had planned, they promised to help as much as they could and they weren’t just talking about the party either. Bernie contacted Fletch to get some music together, Morven giving them a song of theirs to dance to before they leave, before the surprise that she has plans for him. Serena suggests that she speaks to Henrik too, he has some ideas and maybe he can help too. Morven agrees and promises to speak to him during the next week, when things if they go to plan, can start to be put into place.

Henrik agreed that they could have the party on the school premises, only staff and the children were going to be there as Arthur’s parents were not told of his diagnosis and Morven’s dad is somewhere in the jungle out of reach. 

Serena, Bernie and Dom decorated his classroom with everything French and British, one half of the room was adorned with French flags, all food French, and details about Napoleon Bonaparte.   
The other side was everything to do with the Duke of Wellington and all things British. Well apart from the Brandy and the Rum which was the only non British exception. Dom said that sailors lived on rum and he liked it and Nelson was preserved in Brandy and that was a good enough excuse to have it there. Fletch was at home finishing off lining up his iPod with music, from classical music to Abba’s Waterloo. He even tried to sneak some songs from the musical Les Misérables, his reasoning “well it is still French themed ain’t it!”

Arthur still didn’t know anything about the party, he was told that they had some training to do and everyone needed to attend, very rarely Henrik does the training days at a weekend. He was confused ‘a lot’ when Morven got him dressed in an outfit dressed as the Duke of Wellington, he remarked that it was almost a replica and it was she had spent a lot of time online trying to get it sent in time, luckily it arrived at the school Friday afternoon with just enough time for Morven to sneak it into their car. 

Henrik always a good sport on such occasions dressed up at Napoleon, Serena dressed up as a wench, which set Bernie’s mind on fire, her tight fitting, bust hugging dress in red and lined with white lace made her……..  
Thats enough of that.  
Everyone wore something French or English, mainly to do with Les Mis as that was really all of the fancy dress costumes had in, but it was the thought behind it that mattered, hopefully. The children’s costumes were provided by Lofty thanks to the help of the local theatre.

Arthur turned up in his darkened classroom and everyone cheered when Morven flicked the light on, all desperately trying to make this happy, but everything was with a tinge of sadness. He knew what they were trying to do and played along for the most part. Henrik gave a brief toast and hinted at some plans that he had for the next few weeks, if everyone didn’t mind a change to the school schedule, nobody saying anything apart from a cautious ok. He finished off with a toast before they started with the food and then the games.

Food was all eaten quickly apart from a few strange items. Only Jason trying the snails and frogs legs, Charlotte cringing at the mere sight of them and even sent Mo running to the toilet to be sick but that was mainly due to the French stinky cheese, it smelt like Fletch’s shoes.

One of the games they played was Napoleon 10 pin bowling. They had reached the children's ten pin bowling set out of the cupboard, placed Napoleon’s face on them and Wellington’s face on the bowling ball, seeing how many they could knock down. If they knocked under 5 down then Napoleon won, if they knocked more than 5 then Wellington won, if they knocked 5 down it was a draw. Bernie occasionally cheated by moving the pins further apart or closer together depending on who was playing. On the French side was Henrik, Ric, Jac, Mo, Charlotte and Cameron. On the British side was Morven, Bernie, Dom, Serena, Essie and Jason. Fletch was the Swiss ambassador, neutral and keeping score. In the end it was down to Henrik and Arthur. They were at a draw, 9 games each; Henrik bowled a strike, then a split (as they have 3 goes on the 10th game) but Arthur hit a turkey (3 strikes). Fletch ran around the classroom clucking like a turkey with Cameron following him, everyone laughing, even Arthur.

Darts was the next game, the closest person to Waterloo in Belgium would be the winner. Serena was the closest hitting Ghent, Arthur hit France, Morven hit the German capital Berlin and Jac hit the mediterranean sea, Fletch never even got on the board and received some goading from Ric and Jac. It was Bernie’s turn to go last so it was between herself and Serena. Bernie lined herself up, steadied her nerves then just as she was about to throw the dart, Serena walked, no sauntered, up the side of the classroom, leaned back on Arthurs desk sticking out her chest looking as seductively as she could, trying to throw Bernie off her game and she did. Henrik thought it was very funny that Serena hit Ghent as it was one of Belgiums best regions for making wine; everyone laughed and Serena winked at Bernie, no one noticing that the dart went in to the cork board with all of Arthurs history notes on it, straight in Napoleon’s hat.

The blinds were closed to dim the light and the music started they all were dancing with the disco balls sending flashing coloured lights around the classroom. Serena lead Bernie to the dance floor (a cleared area now the games had been put away) and pulled her in tightly for a slow dance, her head resting on Bernie’s shoulder just like they did before they got together, thinking about what is to come for Arthur. This spurred Morven and Arthur to do the same, Jac danced with Henrik and Mo danced with fletch, Dom sitting it out, planning the next phase, something that Morven asked him to do. 

Fletch paused the second song getting Dom and Bernie up to do a duet just for Arthur,

My, my. At Waterloo Napoleon did surrender.  
Oh yeah,  
And I have met my destiny in quite a similar way.  
The history book on the shelf,  
Is always repeating itself.   
Waterloo,  
I was defeated, you won the war.  
Waterloo,  
Promise to love you for ever more.  
Waterloo,  
Couldn't escape if I wanted to.  
Waterloo,  
Knowing my fate is to be with you.  
Wow wow wow wow   
Waterloo  
Finally facing my Waterloo

Morven brought Arthur to the middle of his desk, sat him so he was perched on the edge of the desk. She took the spare microphone off Fletch and took over, Bernie and Dom being her backing singers now. Everyone encircled them as Morven began to sing with a hint of hope yet sadness in her voice.

My, my. I tried to hold you back but you were stronger.  
Oh yeah,  
And now it seems my only chance is giving up the fight.  
And how could I ever refuse,  
I feel like I win when I lose.  
Waterloo,  
I was defeated, you won the war.  
Waterloo,  
Promise to love you for ever more.  
Waterloo,  
Couldn't escape if I wanted to.  
Waterloo,  
Knowing my fate is to be with you.  
Wow wow wow wow   
Waterloo  
Finally facing my Waterloo

Morven got down on one knee, held out the small black box and continued to sing.

So how could I ever refuse,  
I feel like I win when I lose.  
Waterloo,  
Couldn't escape if I wanted to.  
Waterloo,  
Knowing my fate is to be with you.

As Bernie and Dom carried on singing the last few lines, Morven asked Arthur to marry her, promising to face the last battle together. 

Wow wow wow wow Waterloo  
Finally facing my Waterloo  
Huhuhuhu Waterloo  
Knowing my fate is to be with you  
Wow wow wow wow Waterloo  
Finally facing my Waterloo  
Huhuhuhu

Arthur pushed up his glasses further onto his face, something he does when he is nervous but about to tackle it head on and clearly states a yes.  
Everyone cheered, hugs all around. Dom leaving quickly to get the French Champagne.

Just as the third dance, another upbeat song, was about to be played the pipes started to clang and bang next minute water is running under the doorway and Dom came in with his two hands full of champagne, drenched from head to foot. He was in the school hall when the pipe burst, Henrik rushed out, Bernie and Serena followed as Bernie knew where to turn the water off and Serena could get the tool kit from the caretakers room. Within minutes the school was flooded with 2 inches of water, a drowned rat (Dom) and one that was slightly damp (Henrik). Dom couldn’t stop apologising to Morven, ruining her surprise which she reassured him she it didn’t matter. They all gathered to toast the happy couple, Bernie and Serena knew they couldn’t not now announce their engagement, needing the light to be shone on the two youngsters for whatever short time they will have together. Henrik left the room shortly after giving another toast, he phoned for the plumber hoping that this could all be sorted before Monday comes, knowing it is unlikely.

Monday and Tuesday was cancelled at school as the heating wasn’t still fixed and the floor needed to be replaced. Efficient as the local council was it was Wednesday before the staff could get in to assess the damage, and Thursday before the children could come back in. The school kitchen also needed to be revamped as the main pipes were damaged in there too which meant for Thursday and Friday all they could serve was a packed lunch, not that the children minded at all. As both were wet days the dinner ladies decided that instead of putting out the tables and chairs the children could all sit on the floor on the mats having a picnic, putting various jugs of juice out and platters dotted around the place so they could pick their own. The lovely Angela made sausage rolls and brought in lots of cupcakes too for them all to enjoy. This was wonderful to all except Jason who didn’t like at all sitting on the floor so he pulled up a chair and ate of his knee instead, still enjoying the company of his peers. Most of the teachers joined in too, so did the canteen staff at the insistence of Henrik, after all their hard work it was the least he could do, getting the children to put some food on a plate and giving it to them with a few words of thanks and a brief hug. Soon enough the weekend was upon them again.


	37. A day of revelations.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bernie and Serena go to court.

Three weeks have passed and it is now two weeks before the easter holidays and Serena has been a bag on nerves all weekend which has sent Jason in a spin too. Things didn’t go well at the high school last week. Fletch was off as he had to look after Theo who has come down with chicken pox and Jason decided that he would go on his own, not wanting to miss a day, but Mikey was off on the Thursday as he had a fever and was likely coming down with chicken pox too. 

Jason was targeted by some year 8 boys who thought it would be good to send Jason on a wild goose chase and ended up locking him in a store cupboard that has no light working. When Fleur found him by chance after hearing his mumblings, she quickly phoned the school asking for either Bernie or Serena to go and collect him immediately with a brief explanation of why he was having a meltdown. Bernie went as Serena was on her own in the classroom that day, Morven left earlier to go to a hospital appointment with Arthur.   
It took nearly 2 hours for Bernie to calm him down, Fleur and the head had to close the corridor off as much as they could to give him some privacy, he had urinated himself in the blind panic to get out, which too was upsetting him. Bernie luckily had some spare clothes in the back of her car; it was his PE kit from school, she had forgot to wash it although he hadn’t done PE in such a while as it was tag rugby. Bernie stayed and helped to get Jason changed in the staff toilets along with a quick rinse shower and when he was done, they left to go to the heads office until he was ready to leave the school after giving them a statement and identifying the children that had done this. 

Fleur was raging, she instantly suspended each one of the nearly teenagers. She had brought their parents in and explained how cruel their children were, that it was not tolerated in the school and if it or anything similar was to happen again they would be expelled. They were very lucky that the school or Bernie hadn’t contacted the police and got them charged, not that she knew what or if they could be charged with anything. Fleur and Bernie had sat and talked with Jason making an action plan of some sort agreeable to all parties; Bernie telling Jason that she will invest in a phone for him, on the proviso that he uses it sensibly and that he keeps it on silent and away from other pupils when he is at the high school so if he is ever in this position again then he can call Serena, herself, Fletch and Fleur. Her now being his new point of contact if Fletch becomes unavailable after a short discussion on how she knows his aunt. Now all Bernie needs to do is convince Serena that Jason needs a phone.

Over the weekend, Serena and Bernie looked at the options for him; from pay as you go to a contract added on to one of their phones. They had visited various mobile phone shops and Serena in the end decided to get a second hand Samsung (other phones are available), on a pay as you go tariff until they needed to rethink after seeing how he goes with it. Jason didn’t mind as long as he could use the internet, make calls and send texts as he needs to. That was it decision made and Jason was with a newish phone and reading the instructions on how to use it, learning his new number and making sure that all of the telephone numbers that he needs are in it.

Back to Monday morning.  
Bernie and Serena entered the court a bag of nerves. Serena because she was about to come face to face with Robbie again and so is Bernie because she had to relive and retell the jury what happened. Their solicitor joined them with coffee’s in hand to which they were grateful for, she went through a few questions that are likely to be asked, how to answer them with some but not overcome with emotion, it went of for nearly half an hour until there was a knock at the door; it was the defence solicitor asking for a meeting of his clients and them all, stressing on the words ‘all’ his finger waving to Bernie and Serena. Their solicitor left the room, came back in and asked if they would sit in a room with Robbie, as they are giving evidence for the defence so they can do this, however strange it seems. Bernie nods, Serena follows behind, still visibly shaking holding onto her fiancé fiercely.

It seems that Robbie would change his plea to guilty if he could have a word with the ladies before the trial starts. He is wanting to apologise for what he did, to both of them, admit it to their faces but they were not allowed to respond just in case the judge didn’t not agree with the change of plea. Bernie was wary while listening to his apology and admittance of everything that he had done; his remorse didn’t shine true, he reeled it off as if he was reading a script from a boring book, but Serena wanted it to be over and done with and this would be the quickest solution she would sit listen to what he had to say for Serena’s sake.   
They spoke briefly and privately with their solicitors, sharing concerns and extending the length protection order to which the defence council had no qualms with.   
And that was that.   
Robbie appeared in court, changed his plea to guilty and awaited his sentence, to which he would have to reappear in court tomorrow.

The ladies returned home, the silence of an empty house was almost too deafening for them. An end to the trial which had fizzled out before it started despite Serena psyching herself up for a fight. Calling upon all her ‘taking it to the grave grudges’ to get her through the court doors to face the b……!  
Their nerves were still heightened but yet a heavy weight had been lifted of their shoulders. Robbie was going to go to jail, for how long neither would know and rest knowing they were safe once again, for now at least.   
He was remanded in custody for the night. 

They pottered around and completed mundane but much needed jobs as mothers do; like laundry, ironing, polishing and hoovering. Both working around each other flawlessly. The table at lunchtime seemed huge just with the two of them at it with their packed lunches sat in front of them, just pulling it to pieces rather than eating it.   
“We have an empty house for the next 2 hours at least.” Serena suggested with her left eyebrow raised and a dirty smirk looking and fidgeting with her watch. Bernie blushed, they must have been thinking the same thing. “We need to have a little stress relief, we haven’t had any for so long.” This is true, they have been so exhausted with class activities, Arthur’s news and the party, children needing to be in three places at once and something needed to be done before they crashed out in front of the tv or fell asleep before their heads hit the pillow.   
Serena is sure that Bernie fell asleep on the toilet a few nights ago.

With the invitation Bernie stood up, pulled Serena into her arms and straight into a fireman’s lift her onto her shoulder, carries her upstairs and flings her on the bed with a grunt from Bernie and a laughing squeal from Serena. 

There was no way either of them were going to be quiet this afternoon. 

Serena was about to start undressing herself when Bernie pinned her to the bed, “let me” was her earnest request and who was Serena to deny her this small plea or anything really. Serena took a few deep breaths and relaxed into the duvet; small wet kisses were applied to her jaw and neck, occasionally her lips, as Bernie travelled further down the shirt was undone and the skirt was pushed up to give Bernie all the access she needs. 

Serena doesn’t even know why she did it, maybe for confidence, maybe because she wanted just to feel good or the fact that he took some of her most intimate items as she dressed for court today. But the thigh high lace topped tights being held up with suspenders was a delight before Bernie’s eyes, she let out a growl when the skirt was pushed up and bunched around Serena’s waist.   
The crisp white shirt was gently and lovingly pushed open, the white lace bra unfastens by a ribbon, quickly undone by Bernies teeth, kisses placed everywhere where the skin is free and clear. 

Serena fists the duvet beneath her, her legs being lifted around Bernie’s waist as her body is adorned with licks, nips and lipstick marks. Bernie reapplying the peach, neutral lipstick when there is no more on her lips to leave over her lovers body. Nearly every bit of Serena’s body is covered in the replica lipstick tattoo of Bernie’s lips, from her knees to her cheeks (on Serena’s face…..mind out of the gutter please, I will soon take you there myself), once the front is done her back is paid with the same affection. 

There comes a time when the shirt, bra and skirt needs to go, the stockings and suspenders were removed as Bernie kissed her legs, if fact they were gone just a few minutes ago really as they were the last to be assaulted. On her front, Serena laid with her head comfortably on the pillow, her feet dangling over the edge of the bed as Bernie was on her knees at the base of the bed, she is starting from the bottom (legs) up this time.

At around the buttock stage she stopped kissing. Bernie spread Serena’s legs as wide as they comfortably could go and dipped her head for a taste of the sweet nectar that she helped to build. Serena couldn’t help but lift herself up on all fours and back up. Now with more room and a good grip on Serena’s hips, her tongue sticks out into a rod, rolled slightly and she pushes forwards into the folds, as deep as she can get, her chin touching the bundle of nerves, making Serena moan loudly.   
Using her head rather than her tongue she begins to fuck her from behind, Serena moans and talk dirtily, needing more permanent pressure on her clit she reaches down to circle it. Bernie has to let go with her hands so she can reach beneath the bed to grabs their box of goodies. Serena comes, not a big one but enough for them just to get started, last longer for the next time and for her to be well lubricated for what is about to come.

Bernie harnesses up, buckles the leather harness on its last hole, places the largest dildo that they have in the ‘o’ ring and spreads the wetness over the phallus using Serena’s dripping juices. Teasing rubbing it up and down her wide open arse crack; then through her folds Serena loses her patience and tells her to “fuck me properly Bernie before I pin you down and ride you until I have had enough.” As much as Bernie, Serena too, would like that. Bernie has her own frustrations to work through and giving her fiancé a good pounding was most certainly going to help that.   
So Bernie lines the head just in the crevice and pushes ever so slightly in, grabs Serena’s perfectly styled to an inch of her life hair and pulls hard just as she rams the dildo in all the way. Serena’s eyes roll back, her eyes flutter shut, mouth gapes open and a low groan seeps out. Bernie pulls back a little harder, Serena’s fingertips at the duvet now as her back arches. The grip loosens as she withdraws it out of her but is tightened and pulled on re-entry. Slow out, hard and fast in, with a hilt at the point when Serena thinks she can relax when its deep inside her and Bernie pauses, makes her wait.

Serena now needs more, she arches her back and grips onto Bernie’s neck pulling her in close, the grip in the hair is lost so now is tight around her throat, “this……this ok?” Bernie asks, she never been this rough before, they had spoken about it a few times while in bed talking about their desires and sexual fantasies.

“God, yes!” Serena’s reply. 

Bernie’s free hand pulls and twists Serena’s nipples, again rough and harsh not that she minds, her moans of encouragement sees how rough and far she can pushed, only stating its too much when nails are embedded in the nipple, pinching.   
“Faster….. Harder……please Bernie. Please.” Serena begs, Bernie steadies herself, rearranges her limbs, her arms now under Serena’s armpits so she has a good grip on Serena’s shoulder, fingers entwined as Serena waits with baited breath, sweat dripping down both of their bodies.   
“Ready?” Bernie asks as she bites on the lobe of her ear then sucking it while waiting for an answer. “Please,” was gasped out as Bernie rapidly and forcefully fucks Serena from behind into a screaming orgasm, for both of them. Leaving them collapsed face down the bed, unable to move for quite some time.

“We better get showered before the kids get back home.” Serena says, face firmly embedded in the pillow; they only have 20 minutes left before they are back to reality. “Share?” Bernie asks, already knowing the answer. Before they move, Bernie unfastens the buckles to the harness, Serena hisses as the phallus is extracted from deep within her core. Bernie becomes worried, her face showing concern as there seems to be a little blood on it. “Im due on in the next day or too, it maybe that, so please don’t worry. You haven’t hurt me, in fact you have given me one of the best sexual experiences of my life…..and not for the first time neither.” Bernie breaths a sigh of relief. They showered with effectiveness and efficiency and are just about dressed as Fletch’s car pulls up and the children are back from school; Fletch letting himself in with his key.

Serena updates Fletch what had happened and he hands over an envelope from the seller’s solicitor. They have put in writing what they want to sell the house for, if Bernie and Serena are still willing to buy it.   
The children head upstairs to get undressed and Bernie watches as Serena as she opens the letter then passes it to her for reading, mouth hanging wide open. 

They can’t believe what they are reading. 

The house they went to see was on the market for a very long time at a value of nearly £200,000. After much discussion with the estate agent who has frankly done nothing for them in such a long time they are released from their contract and are free to sell it privately.  
As there is so much work that needs to be done to it, the sellers are willing to sell it to them only, for £80,000. With one condition, they have it as their new family home. “What do ya think ladies? You going to go for it?” No discussion needed, Bernie was already on the phone to her solicitor to agree the price. They could afford to buy it without Serena selling her property; she would still sell it though, they both knew that. “Well I think a moving in party is a must and I am inviting myself, my husband and my kids, so get planning ladies.” Cam must of overheard as he wanted to know what they needed to plan a party for, so with a guilty look Fletch said his goodbyes leaving Bernie and Serena to answer the question, to all three of them.

Tea was full of excitement and achy limbs. The children agreed on what bedrooms they wanted and how they wanted them decorated; the Ladies talking about making the veranda their own little love hideout, placing love seats and loungers out on there, all weatherproof or put in a little storage shed. Bernie even promising to make a treehouse for the children, Jason isn’t keen but Cam and Charlotte are. Jason’s only request is a shed with a proportion of the roof being glass so he can study the night sky and maybe put a telescope in there, making it his own observatory. The ladies can see no issue with that as their garden will be big enough. Because of the excitement the children find it hard to settle but do eventually, along with the ladies to talk for hours in bed, excitedly. 

Tomorrow should be their last court date, to see Robbie being sentenced. It’s not an exciting thing to look forward to but for Serena especially she will finally see karma at its best and wield the sword of fate upon him, finally.

They fall asleep as always entwined, dreams of their new home, their new start. Hopefully they can get married before the actually move in. A clean slate all around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a note to say thanks for continuing to read my story xx


	38. Life is similar to playing a game of Monopoly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are making plans for their new home

They talk about having a dog, when I say they talk I mean the kids. A new house, more space, large garden and a dog, just like Buttons…..the dog they saw on Boxing Day in the park. Bernie and Serena were quick to put a dampener on it, they had other priorities first. Like getting the house into some sort of liveable standard, the electrics all need doing, the house needs redecorating from top to bottom, the garden needs sorting and that has been left to Serena to design and Bernie to do all of the hard physical work. They smile, recalling memories of them tackling Bernie’s back garden, helping them to get to where they are now. Like they have passed go and collected £200, but more than that really; they have found love when they both least expected it; they have built a family, comforted each other and started to collect all the broken pieces to rebuild each other back up.   
Just now they need to get started on the amenities like electricity, gas and water. Get them up and running so they can make a start on all of these plans.

They pay a visit to the property, the previous sellers let them have the keys while their solicitors hash out all of the details, something about a tree survey or something holding it all up now. The bills are in their joint name, strange to see at first; the insurance for the property was they first thing they sorted out to have in both of their names. Trying to discuss their relationship status without the children hearing was a task, they were sent up to their new rooms to start designing them to how they would like them on the understanding it may not happen exactly how they want it. 

When they got bored the children were all sent on a treasure hunt, just as they rain outside subsides. Charlotte has just discovered the game of…..yes you have guessed it…..Monopoly. So they have been sent to find any pieces that can be played in a game of Monopoly, so they are playing human Monopoly of sorts.   
The easiest one was an old boot, there was a storage cupboard with some old shoes and coats in; Jason claimed that and put it in the conservatory and they all went looking for the others pieces while the ladies sorted out the TV licence and Water rates out. While they were looking through the kitchen cabinets and drawers they found a wedding certificate for the couple that previously lived there. Bernie traces her fingers over the word ‘marriage’. She closes her eyes, envisions Serena on their wedding day, not a civil ceremony, but a full on wedding. Thankful for the recent law that passed that said same sex couples could be legally married. She was brought out of her reverie by a hand on her lower back, a chin on her left shoulder looking at what has caught her attention. “We could have the bands read, for when we are ready.” Bernie whispered, not knowing of Serena was actually ready to take the next step. Serena fiddled with her engagement ring that is around her neck, took a minute to think and then passed her phone to Bernie, she had brought up the registry office telephone number to make the appointment. Both standing nervously as they book the appointment for when they are both off, the 1st week of the easter school holidays. Only 9 days to wait.

Cam was the next person to find a piece in their human Monopoly game; he found a old brass cannon from by one of the many fireplaces. He thought it was ace, it had loose cannon balls next to the machine itself. You could put them in and then fire them by pulling on the small piece of string at the top. Yes, thankfully the cannon balls didn’t go that far but it was great for the kids to play with, promising not to break it (or anything else in the house) just incase the sellers want it back. They spent a short while playing with it, Jason looking more at the mechanics of it and back off they went, in search for the next piece.

“What do you want to do about the cars?” Serena asked as she was looking into changing her address on the policy. Hers was constantly breaking down and Bernie’s was good, reliable and practical. There was no need to change was there? “We could go shopping together, each of us have a newer one, not completely new……”. Serena nodded, “we will have to wait until my house is sold I am afraid.” Bernie took Serena’s hands, pulled them over to the sofa after pulling off the dust sheet and pulls her onto her knee. “The money I have my darling is yours. When we buy a car, this house, our first holiday together, it will be ours and not just mine. I intend to put everything in our names, after all you will be my wife sooner or later.” Stroking Serena’s face as she tries to dispel any thoughts that it will be all taken away, like it was with Edward and then losing Ellie shortly after.   
“We will share everything, as equals.” Serena allows a tear to fall, knowing that she is safe in her fiancé’s arms, that they are on the same wave length. 

After it finally sinking in she smiles, “when the sale of my old house is done, then I will take us away on a holiday….how about…..erm…. America. Disney World, NASA Space Centre, Universal Studio’s, the beach in Miami, and New York shopping. For the full six weeks……well actually maybe 5 as we need to plan for the year ahead, us both being full teachers, equals and all.” Bernie’s eyes widen, she leans forward, “ah Mrs Wolfe, then I get to see you in a bikini.” Serena’s eyes darken, did they have time for any of that? Obviously not as the three of their children bound in with a rusted wheelbarrow that has a deflated tyre. “This is my find Aunty Serena, although I don’t think it will do a good job as the tyre has several nails in it, it will need a new tyre I think!” Serena nods, trying to clear her wayward brain from where it was previously. “Well done you all, now you have a few more to find, we are nearly done here so hop to it.” Serena waves her hand to shoo them out in search again.

Charlotte quickly bounds in again, “I want a horse!” She says clearly and brightly, Bernie splutters and Serena wonders how on earth are they going to get out of this because when she gets an idea like this in her head its hard to get it out. “How about riding lessons first, to see if you like horses. You need to learn how to look after them and ride them properly?” Bernie sits there mouth agape, if this goes wrong they could well be buying a horse in the near future and where the hell would they put one of them. Not answering them directly Charlotte runs off shouting, asking the boys if they want to join her in riding lessons. Serena looks at Bernie, Bernie’s mouth is going like a goldfish in search of food. “Oh shit!” Serena exclaims, finally caught on to what Bernie was thinking. “What if they all like riding and looking after the horses, we could end up with three!” Her voice a high pitch almost squeal at the end, her face in her hands, before she gets up and finds the children to explain the chances of having a horse of their own was slim to none, but riding lessons could, no would go ahead, Jason deciding against it but the Cam and Charlotte agreeing to having a go, then off they go in search again. Serena returns to Bernie thankful of helping her out of what could have been a rather large catastrophe.

They sit on the sofa and discuss the sentence that was delivered to Robbie 5 days ago. It was like a weight that had been lifted over Serena’s shoulders, yes he only had got 3 months but he would be incarcerated for the whole of the three months, therefore will be out in June. For now, they could rest at ease knowing that they are free and not have to worry about whatever he was going to do next. After that he would be forbidden to go anywhere near them, their place of work and Jason’s new school. His probation period after her served his sentence would be 3 years and if he didn’t comply with it he would be sent down for the next 36 months and any additional charges would be placed on top of them. The only thing was they didn’t know where he was being incarcerated; as he was a police officer it would be unlikely that he would be here, in Holby. Anyway enough about that wretched man, back to the family.

Serena has the foresight to bring flasks of coffee with them, juice for the children and snacks too. As the rain came back they were sent into the kitchen to eat, knowing Jason would be unhappy doing it anywhere else but at the table. The children talk about what colours they want for their rooms, Charlotte surprises them both stating that she wants a grey and yellow bedroom, decorated in stripes and squares. Not a note of anything too girly at all, Serena smiles ‘just like her mother that one’ she thinks, girly but neutral gender, goes against the ‘pink for girls and blue for boys’ stereotype.   
Jason wants a space room, no surprise there. He shows them on his new phone how he can have a mural on the wall, one that can stick on and glows in the dark too. He wants a black desk, a blue lamp and chair, blue and red (Holby City colours) walls, bedding and curtains, blue carpet and lots of storage space for all of his books. “We may have a study for all of your books Jason, for everyone’s books.” Charlotte’s eyes light up, “a reading cave” she squeals, for her to sit and read in, just what she wants. 

Cameron says he doesn’t have a clue what he wants, he would like to go to IKEA shopping for idea’s. He wants to test beds, look at wardrobes and drawers, stating he wants it all metal if he can get it. However in his own bathroom, “you are sharing with Jason, you do know that don’t you?” Bernie states clearly, he is just trying to push his luck and she knows it. “Can I have a wet room rather than a normal shower, its just easier when I come home from football, when I’m all muddied up. That way I can rinse off all the mud before having a proper shower.” Serena and Bernie look towards Jason, “I have no problem with that, fancy blue and red in there too Cam?” Cam nods, “ace!” With a high five to Jason. 

All too soon they have to go back home, via the cinema’s. Dumbo is on, Serena has wanted to see it since she knew it was being redone. So 2 boxes of popcorn later, a fizzy drink each as a treat and a chocolate bar for all as they sit in the middle of a packed cinema watching Dumbo, Bernie holding out a tissue for Serena when she sees tears form in the corner of her eyes, she herself isn’t particularly watching it, she is thinking of their future together as wife and wife. Wondering how and when they can do it all, hopefully before the school year is out then their ‘family holiday’ could also be their honeymoon.

The children manage to beg them into having a MacDonalds for tea straight after the film. Bernie and Serena don’t really mind, they hadn’t pulled anything out for their tea so it would be easier this way, Bernie hoping that she could sit down and have a proper conversation with Serena regarding their wedding. They actually hadn’t really discussed anything, just that they wanted to do it, change Serena’s name to ‘Mrs Serena Wendy Wolfe’ and where they were going to live.  
So as they tuck into their boxes of 20 nuggets and fries they start to talk about what they want to do tomorrow. “If it is nice can we go to the beach?” Charlotte asked. Bernie scrunched upon her nose, “maybe in the easter holidays, we can have a few days away if we get the majority of the decorating done in the new house.” The children were excited of a few days away. They all wanted to go to the beach, Jason wasn’t so keen on staying in a caravan but he agreed nonetheless. None of the stuff they asked to do was out of the norm of a holiday in the UK, they wanted ice creams, fish and chips by the sea, build sand castles and go paddling. The most they wanted to do was go swimming in a waterpark rather than just a ‘normal’ swimming pool. Bernie whispered to Serena, asking if they should invite Raf, Fletch and their brood only Jason, with his impeccable hearing overheard and was delighted, so were Charlotte and Cameron when he told them when they returned from the toilets. They were just hoping that they could come now; Bernie sending a quick text to find out. The response was quick, Raf had the second week of the school holidays off and they would love to join them, Bernie messaged back that they would book somewhere when they got back home.

Soon after they got home the children went to bed, chasing to shower after their swim tomorrow. It was decided that swimming and a game of crazy golf would be the days events, that and a slow cooked lamb dinner. As they children read before lights out, they start the prep for tomorrows dinner with a glass of wine in hand.   
“Have you had any thoughts on what you want?” Serena asks, Bernie had stopped peeling the potatoes a few minutes back. A half peeled potato was in one hand and a peeler in the other, resting on the sideboard. “Hmm, sorry…..what?” Shaking her head as her mind came back to what she was doing. Serena repeated the question, Bernie plopped the potato back in the water and wiped her hands on her jeans before wrapping them around Serena’s waist. “I would like you in a dress, the boys in suits, Charlotte and Evie in a dress too……me, oh I don’t know, you will have to help me there………and our friends to witness when I say ‘I do!’” Bernie pulls her in tighter, “I want us all to gather in our back garden of the new house, and party all night, nothing flashy…..some rugs and large cushions on the floor, tree lights, fairy lights dotted all around, maybe even say our vows there?” Serena kisses her with such love, not only does she love Bernie she loves the idea of getting married at their new home, “well I think Ms Wolfe, we need to get the decorating done pretty sharpish.” After a final long chaste kiss, they finish their prep and head off to bed themselves. 

More conversations about weddings were to follow, when they could, without 6 little ears listening in.


	39. Planning for their near future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe a little more discussions on what they want?

Serena wakes up first, the birds that are outside singing the morning chorus. She is sitting on the stoop with a mug of coffee in one hand looking over at her old house. The back garden needs sorting she thinks, maybe not as she has had someone come to view it yesterday, an impromptu viewing so could be positive. It wasn’t a home anymore, her home, she didn’t feel safe or even like being in the house. Her home was here, with Bernie and all the children.   
She wondered about Jason, she is soon going to be changing her name, when her and Bernie got married; she wonders what he wants to do, stay as Haynes or change his so that they all share their surname. Maybe he would want to double barrel it to “Haynes-Wolfe”. There was one thing that she was sure of and that was her getting rid of her married name, ‘Campbell’. After placing her mug on the step, she got a scrap of paper and started to practice her new name, her new signature, writing Ms and Mrs Wolfe, she would change it every so often to Mrs B and Mrs S Wolfe. She wrote down the children's full names too, writing Jason’s in several ways, she looked up adoption on her phone, wondering what it would take to adopt Jason and not just be his legal guardian. That way both her and Bernie could have the security of knowing if anything happened to him or either of them, then Jason would be cared for, always.

Jason startled her as he said “good morning Aunty Serena” while wiping the sleep out of his eyes. She hadn’t heard him coming down the stairs, she smiled as he took a seat next to her, after grabbing an apple juice from the fridge. “Whats this?” He asked as the piece of paper was being tucked under her bottom trying to hide it, she never liked lying to him so she told him the truth. “No one knows apart from Bernie and I……I hoped to tell you all together but I want to ask you a few extra things after.” Jason looked at the paper again; He isn’t daft she knows what it would mean and she is correct, he asks if she and Bernie are going to get married. He came straight out with it, he noticing straight away the change of name on the sheet. “We are Jason, are you ok with that?” He took the piece of paper from her again, not answering the question straight away which made Serena rather nervous. She can see the thought process of her nephew. “Do you want me to have the same name as you and Bernie then?” He folded over the paper so that ‘Jason Haynes-Wolfe’ and ‘Jason Wolfe’ was only visible, his finger casting over the words. Serena took a deep breath in, “I would like us to all have the same name Jason but I don’t want you to think that we would ever forget about your mum if you decided to do it. We can always still talk about her, have your pictures up, go to the cemetery when you want.” She trailed off as Jason once again folded the paper so only one name was visible, ‘Jason Wolfe’, “I would like to just like my brother and sister, after all thats what they will be.” Serena sighed, that was his approval of not only the name change but of the marriage too. So with that she asked him the final question, “would you like for Bernie and I to adopt you? It wouldn’t change anything, just that if you get hurt or need anything medical wise etc, Bernie can help you without me being there, like when you were at the hospital with your hand.” He looked at his hand, now in a splint rather than a full on plaster, his face contorted into various stages as he thought about what adoption meant. “Yes I would. That way I will have 2 mums again, I will never forget my real mum but I will have you and Bernie as my mums like Charlotte and Cameron, we will all be the same then.” Serena had tears running down her face which confused her nephew, crying meant sad until she explained that sometimes people cry when they are happy and she is really very happy.

Shortly after Cameron and Charlotte came down all dressed in their swimming costumes, swimming bags packed and clothes over the top of them. She wished them all a good morning with a hug, Cameron saying “good morning mum number 2.” “Good morning son” was her happy reply. They had agreed they could call her mum, Charlotte has been doing it on and off since her appendix operation, Cameron not so much so. As they sat all together having breakfast Serena made a coffee and some toast for the sleeping blonde. Leaving the children to it she takes the items upstairs to her sleeping beauty, hoping that Jason wouldn’t say anything to Cam and Charlotte before she and Bernie has a chance to, and she really…..giving that she would be asking more of Bernie than just marriage, needs to sit down and see if they are alright with the idea too. 

So with coffee and buttered toast she heads upstairs telling the children only to come up if they desperately need anything. As they were planning on watching tv after their breakfasts she knew she had maybe an hour at the most to speak to her fiancé.  
“Bernie darling, I have some coffee and some toast.” Bernie turns over and smiles, reaches up for a kiss catching Serena off guard as she is trying blindly to put the coffee down on the bedside table, the toast is now by her feet all but forgotten as she takes her morning fill of a naked Bernie. “Hmm, good morning to you too, what do I owe this pleasure?” A final kiss as she reaches for the toast and requests for the coffee to be handed to her. “I just love you thats all.” Serena says, somewhat nervous. She can’t sit still, her hands and legs are fidgety which is unusual for her, she usually curls up as close as she can to Bernie when in bed or on the sofa.   
“You know that I love you, so come on, what’s up?” Bernie wants to get it out of her as soon as possible, they have a lot planned for today. Serena takes in a big breath.  
“ItoldJasonthatwearegettingmarriedandiwantyoutoadopthim.” She couldn’t get the words out quick enough, Bernie must of heard, in fact she did as she spluttered her mouth full of coffee all over the bedcovers. “Adopt him?” Serena moved to get out of the bed when Bernie came onto her knees and stopped her by straddling her, sending the plate of toast flying on the floor. “You want me to adopt him?” Bernie asks again with love and kindness pouring out in her voice. Serena nods, she can’t quite look Bernie in the eye so Bernie waits for Serena to get the courage to do so and vocalise her answer. “Yes, he said yes too…..I asked him this morning, he wants to be a family with you and the children, all equals as such.” Bernie kissed Serena with every ounce if love she has, lays her down on the bed and starts to strip her, as each piece of clothing that they are wearing is stripped from her body, Bernie gives Serena her answer. “Of course I will. It would be my pleasure. Oh god yes. He will be my son too. We will all be together. Maybe we will have another one of our own?” Serena and Bernie stopped in unison, looked at one another and just stared. 

Has Bernie really just said that?   
Is that what they both want, another child? 

Serena needed to know, “you want us to have another child?” Bernie looked at her sheepishly, “it has crossed my mind, I am not adversed to it, if it happens it happens.” She said the last bit questioningly knowing that if it does happen it is because they have planned it that way.   
Serena sits up, holds Bernie close to her, “you really would have a baby with me?” Bernie knows how much she misses Ellie, a blood child of her own. A new child wouldn’t be to replace her fallen daughter but to give her another chance of motherhood, right from birth. “Yes,” she replies honestly, “I would do anything for you, for us, I know it would mean more work having another baby in the house but I am absolutely sure that we will cope, more than cope. He or she will have 2 big brothers and a big sister to help out too.” 

Serena starts to cry, she never wanted to stop with one, but her awful husband never gave her the chance, even though he spawned elsewhere.   
“I looked into it you know?” Serena said, being honest. “Not long after Ellie died, I looked into it, but it was too expensive unless I got caught having unprotected sex with Robbie,” shaking her head, glad now that she never got caught with him. “Now?” Bernie asks wondering if it is something she would consider doing now. “We could find a donor and do it privately through insemination or we can ask someone we trust and do it with a turkey baster if we really have too.” Serena laughed, properly belly laughed at the visions of Bernie sticking a filled up turkey baster up her and squirting it deep inside so the little tadpoles can swim even futher. “Cheaper I suppose.” Serena replies chuckling, “just think of it as a rather thin dildo!” That was it, they are now in fits and tears of laughter. “Lets talk and see, but now we have to get dressed for swimming and shopping for paint and paper for our new home.” Bernie pushed Serena down again, reassuring her fiancé that all is ok, that they have a plan for the future and taking any sexual edge off while she is at it.

Serena sits on the edge of the pool waiting for Bernie, Jason and Cameron are splashing around on the floats, racing each other to see who can get to the ropes quicker than the other. “Where the bloody hell are you Wolfe?” She mutters. They left the same cubical together, their things in the locker already, she should know she has the key. Watching the children all while watching the showers carefully for the signs of Bernie, she sees Evie talking to Charlotte whilst walking out of the changing area, ‘so where there is one Fletchling there will be more’ she thinks to herself, next comes Mickey and then Fletch holding Theo and Bernie holding and cooing the baby, well toddler now really. 

Suddenly, catching her off guard she is filled with visions of them having another baby fills her senses, Bernie rocking their baby to sleep after a restless night of feeding. Snuggles in bed, just the three of them, no the 6 of them. ‘What would we have?’ She thinks, trying to pick out what they have as now Bernie is now pushing the pushchair around the supermarket. Tears flow down her cheeks from nowhere, maybe this isn’t a good idea at all. Could she do this all over again? This time though, she wouldn’t be like a single parent as she knows that Bernie would be there, hands on, changing nappies and feeding not just drinking the day away or working.   
Bernie must of noticed as she hand the happy toddler to Evie and sits next to Serena wiping her tears, which doesn’t work as her hands are soaked. 

“You ok?” Bernie asks, Serena nods then shakes her head, “lets talk, lets get our towels and sit in the chairs over there, that way we can keep an eye on our children and talk.” Serena nods, her towel is already on the tiled bench so she wraps it around herself, Bernie goes to get hers out of the locker along with her purse, before she returns to Serena who is sitting at the table at the front of the snack area, she gets a thick slice of lemon drizzle cake and 2 coffee’s. “Please talk to me Serena, whats going on in that beautiful head of yours.” Bernie asks while threading her fingers through Serena’s hair keeping eye contact. “If we did it, have a child of our own, I hope it wouldn’t be like it was with Edward, I couldn’t do it on my own again.” Serena replies another tear forming in her eyes, Bernie takes off Serena’s engagement ring off from around her neck and places it on her left ring finger, kisses it and tells her implicitly that they are now a team. “I have your back Serena, always. You are my first port of call and I am yours.” Serena knows that she means it, with Edward his promises are always half empty if she was lucky, she has never felt like that with Bernie, Ever. “I love you Bernie, I do want this, all of it. Lets get married, move in to the new house and see where it takes us. Look into how we could do it.” Bernie nods, the proper smile has now come back on Serena’s face, she has to squeeze her thighs together as Serena moans deeply as she tucks into the lemon drizzle cake, licking the sticky icing from around her lips. Bernie leans up and kisses her, wiping the last bit of icing from the corner of the brunettes mouth. “Lets get in there.” With that they finish the cake and coffee and dunk all of the children off the floats.

Bernie sits on the float, gloating. Well I say ‘a’ float, she has piled 5 up on top of one another and she is now the proud owner of them all. This has all stemmed from when she has flung the children off them, something about a game of shark, she has to throw the children off the float and dunk them completely before taking control of it foe herself. “Come on Serena, it will hold both of us.” Serena smiles and shakes her head, “please for me, I’m cold and need warming up,” Bernie pleads with puppy dog eyes. Fletch pushes her towards the float within arms reach of Bernie who pulls her on. Serena sits with her back to Bernie’s front and holds on for dear life.   
The children are all trying to get them off, Cameron going underwater and pushing them from underwater but no success, Jason trying to push them really fast but they only end up in the deeper end of the pool. In a bid to see his friend get dunked, Fletch gathers them all the children together. He puts a plan of action in place, takes Ella from Evie and lets her get involved. So Evie pushes them into the shallow bit of the pool, Jason holds the float steady, not wanting to go under the water again; Cameron, Evie, Jason and Charlotte all swim under the float and push all together sending Bernie and Serena flying into the water, Bernie just managing to stop Serena for submerging completely by holding her above her head as she sinks underwater. The kids cheers and give each other high fives, Fletch and the toddlers laugh, clapping hands and flicking as they spray themselves with water. 

As Bernie comes up, she holds on to Serena tightly in her arms and swings her around, “I can’t wait for you to be my Mrs Wolfe” she declares, Fletch nearly drops the toddlers in shock, Cam and Charlotte cheer and Jason smiles. He has seen his aunty go through heartbreak over and over again, this is one of the first times he has seen her truly happy. “I can’t wait until we are a family” he says. Bernie carefully places Serena back down and gets down to Jason’s height, “Jason we are already a family, and when I adopt you, nothing at all will change.” “Apart from my name,” he interrupts. “Yes, apart from your name.” He hugs Bernie for the first time, even Serena is taken back by this, even more so when he turns and hugs her too. “So now I will call you both mums, mum Serena and mum Bernie. Shall you do that too?” He asks Cam and Charlotte who nods in unison. 

Fletch congratulates them both, he asks when they got engaged and they quietly turn their heads to the changing rooms tells him they will explain it all him shortly, letting the children go off to play again while they shower and dry off the toddlers and get themselves changed. While sitting on the tiled bench wrapping the toddlers in their hoodie towels they tell Fletch all the details and why they haven’t said anything to anyone, “I will keep it a secret until you both are ready, just know that I am happy fo ya both.” Serena and Bernie take Ella away for shower and dressing while Fletch takes Theo. 

Bernie takes her time to watch Serena with Ella, just like Serena did earlier. Vivid visions of them shopping and cuddling on the sofa; playing at the park, fighting who’s turn it is to push the swing with their baby on their knees. “I think……” Bernie says musing to herself, passing over the nappy cream and nappy to Serena, “we should find our own donor, maybe a turkey baster idea isn’t so bad after all.” Serena’s head shoots up, yes it was a joke this morning but it would save a lot of expense. “But who Bernie?” Who would we ask?” Bernie’s face changes, Serena knows exactly who she is thinking of, but would it work? Would he say yes? “I think we should have a conversation with the person later, give him time to think about it.” Serena nods, she looks at the sleeping toddler before her and cradles her in her arms, “but not too much later, hey Bernie?” Bernie shakes her head sending water flying everywhere of her blonde ringlets. “Maybe we should all get together and talk, see if it is an option.” Serena nods, passes Ella over and gets dressed herself, Bernie very grateful for her view.

They say their goodbyes to Fletch and the kids and head over to the home decorating store; it closes soon so they just collect what they need. They are starting upstairs with the children's bedrooms as there is very little rewiring that needs to be done and what does won’t interfere with what they have planned. Bernie has already ordered the mural for Jason’s Bedroom, the exact one he showed them a few days ago. Posters of Holby FC for Cam’s room were ordered online and they could collect anytime but nothing yet for Charlotte’s as she hasn’t seen anything, she doesn’t want unicorns or fairies; she refuses to look at anything sparkly. She just says she will tell her mums when she finds what she wants. “Thats helpful,” Bernie murmurs to herself, a squeeze of Serena’s hand reassures her. 

Bernie and Serena both know that Charlotte is going through some changes, it’s nothing negative, she just doing new things that she likes and interests her thats all, its not just about dancing and singing now. Charlotte loves to play football with the boys and is a very nimble goalie and midfielder; Cam at first didn’t want her on his team until she scored a goal from nearly the middle of the pitch, to which Charlotte says it was with Jason’s help that helped her to score the goal, he has been teaching her about angles and power. Soon after that Cam and his rival team mates argued over her when she wanted to play. She was still very much enjoying the gymnastics so would always opt for that first given the chance. 

Serena followed Charlotte where she wanted to go, Bernie and the boys were looking at hard wood for the floors just incase the upstairs couldn’t be sanded and stained, that was their first choice. Charlotte stopped in front of some framed pictures of wildlife, a gorilla to be exact; she thumbed through some others, picked another one out that was a turtle swimming with coral beneath it. “Would you like those for your room?” Serena asks, Charlotte looks at the pictures once again, through them all, contemplates another one that is a mare and her foal. She places the turtle one back and shows the two chosen ones to Serena and nods, “please, I really like these.” Serena agrees, takes the bigger gorilla picture off her to carry it to meet Bernie and the boys while Charlotte carries the smaller one. On the way back to her mum Charlotte asks when can her horse riding lessons start. “Lets get the house started first, then we can look into it properly…..” Charlotte sighed, Serena stopped and thought for a minute, “Charlotte, when we go on holiday, there is a horse riding place that will take you for a walk on the beach if you would like that….?” Charlotte ran the few steps back towards Serena and almost leapt on her, only not managing to because they were holding the new purchases. “Yes please mummy Serena, I would love that, please, please, please.” With a curl of Charlottes pig tails around her finger she nods, “come one lets find mum and tell the boys hey?” 

Charlotte spots Jason at the end of the aisle looking at charcoal grey floorboards and runs towards him, Cameron joins them both and Serena slowly walks towards them, until she can’t see. “Guess who?” Bernie asks then promptly licks the shell of her ear, “Oh I don’t know……maybe Ms Naylor?” The children laugh and shout ‘“NO” in unison, “its mummy Bernie.” There are a few stares and funny faces at them but Bernie tightens her grip on Serena’s waist, she looks and approves of Charlottes choice of pictures and they walk together with their trolley full of paint, rollers and brushes to the checkout with 3 very happy children.

One more week to work, one week of decorating and one week on holiday. What on earth could they expect?


	40. The week before Easter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A busy week ahead at school

There are a lot of things that happen at the school the week before they break up, especially with being attached so closely to the church. The reverend comes into each class for about half an hour each day, he hands out eggs too on the Thursday, to both children and staff. The whole school attends the church for a service in the morning before all of the fun things begin. They have an easter bonnet parade to which it is compulsory for all staff must take part in. 

This year Fletch has gone for a dinosaur egg bonnet to the approval of Jason and Mikey, who helped him to do the paper mâché egg, they had spent most of Sunday after swimming doing it, thankful that the little ones were worn out from their adventures in the pool and Evie was out with friends.   
So on Monday evening Serena, Bernie and the children all made their easter bonnets/hats.

Jason went for a space theme, the big bang, how the earth was formed; he didn’t want a bonnet as it wouldn’t be big enough for what he had in mind, so Bernie and Serena helped him make a cardboard hat, almost like a crown but with a large piece of cardboard, almost the width of his shoulders sticking out. From there he drew the different stages of the big bang, how the earth was formed and changed over the 50 billion plus years it has taken to get to the present day. 

Cameron of course did a football one, Bernie was going to moan about it not having anything to do with ‘New Life’ but Serena said it was ok, they weren’t very strict on the theme as long as the children make it mostly themselves. So with an old football and a baseball cap, he made a start cutting out hexagons and sticking them to his hat so they fit together, drawing what would look like stitching and emblems just like Holby City FC’s training football.

Charlotte needed a little more help so they sat around their half of the table. Charlotte wanted to go traditional; she drew and made chicks and lambs, a mare and her foal just like her new picture for her bedroom, tadpoles and frogs too. Serena helped to cut out the fiddly pieces that she couldn’t quite get to, Bernie helped sew them on the bonnet as it wouldn’t stick on with glue, managing to stick several holes in her fingertips while she was at it while Charlotte decided to glitter some foam eggs. Monday evening was becoming a very late night for them all, they didn’t have the time to do it over the weekend, but now sitting around the table, all working together it was fun.   
In the background Serena had put a story CD on, of course it was Roald Dahl, they had all voted for the twits, Charlotte was enjoying the book being read to her once again, they all loved the voices that the author put into it too. As it was too late to cook, they opted for a Chinese takeaway for their teas,. Eating it in the living room was a treat, Jason using his small fold away table to eat from as they kitchen table was covered in art and craft stuff. Once the chicken balls, stir fry, duck in peking sauce and noodles were eaten, oh and don’t forget the prawn crackers too, they headed back for another hour to finish their bonnets and hats.

Once the children were in bed fast asleep, before they tidied the bomb site that was their kitchen, they made their own. “Er, Serena……How is a wine glass and a bottle of Shiraz supposed to be ‘New Life?’” Serena smirked, she always had an answer for everything, “well my soon to be wife…….they take what was the grapes and berries off the tree and before they become another god awful raisin, they make my beautiful, full bodied delicious wine with it, therefore a going from its old life as a grape, to its new life as my wine.” Bernie couldn’t answer for giggling, she could see Serena’s point, but it was just so funny, her eyes lit up, the cheeks went a cosy red colour and she spoke about her wine as if it was the new M&S porn food advert. To tease Bernie some more, she licks the rim of the glass with the tip of her tongue before humming as she takes a large sip of the berry juice. If she carried on behaving like this then neither of them would be getting their bonnets done for Thursday and they would be picking glitter off every orifice from their bodies.

Bernie tried to get her head back into making her own easter bonnet and not ravish Serena there and then. With a few deep breaths and a few seconds with her eyes closed she put the last bit of effort into finishing her bonnet. Bernie’s bonnet was about the stages of a baby growing inside their mummies tummy. Believe it or not Bernie could actually draw ok but for this intricate detailed drawings, she traced around pictures from an old maternity book she had found while packing a few bits for the move. Serena had finished colouring her wine bottle in, sewed it on a large hat with the wine glass and grapes, while waiting for Bernie to finish she fingered through the maternity book. She read about how it was harder for the ‘older’ mothers to conceive and carry, there was a greater change of miscarriage and birth defects too. She noticed that she was just outside of that age bracket and wondered if it actually could or would happen again for her, for them both. Bernie could read her mind, “we will talk to him soon, I promise. Serena nodded, it was something that she had set her heart on now. Hoping that the soon to be father, if he agreed, would be ok in taking a back seat, still involved but not in a parental way.

“So the adoption?” Bernie asked bringing her fiancé out of her spell. “Yes?” Serena asked, her true smile coming back. “How do we go about it?” Bernie had no clue on where to begin or what she actually has to do. 

“Well he need to speak to the social worker, the solicitor for us and then the signed forms need to go to the court, once they are signed he will be ours officially. I already had the forms changed last week, when we were at the hospital, giving you permission to sign for any treatment he may need. It was her……. Jason’s social worker that mentioned it, about adoption that is…….it has been going around in my head since then.” Bernie smiled this would never have been a spontaneous thing with Serena, she knew the idea had to come from somewhere but was grateful that she was the one to be doing this, she had after all a special bond with Jason. 

Jason trusted her like he trusted no one else apart from his aunty and no one else can calm him down like she can. “Well as soon as we can get the forms, the sooner we can change his name.” Serena placed a soft kiss of Bernie’s lips, reached over and dug in her handbag then placed a set of forms in front of Bernie. These forms were already, mostly completed, completed by the social worker after their initial discussion just incase they were to go ahead with it. Bernie wiped her hands on her jeans and signed them straight away, they needed a third signatory so they were going to ask Henrik tomorrow at school before Bernie suggested that they ask ‘Diggers'. “This maybe be the last thing that he does, that could change a child’s life, for the positive”. Serena agreed and placed the forms back in the bag for tomorrow where they would ask him to sign it, “maybe we could ask Jason to ask him?” Bernie wonders as she is wiping the table, “I think I love that idea, we shall ask him at break time as he is away in the afternoon at the hospital.” Bernie nods excitedly as washes the glitter from her hands and leads Serena upstairs to bed.

Tuesday morning and all is going well, the priest gave his morning speech to the children this time during assemble as his talk to each class would be in the afternoon, he was telling the children that at lunchtime there will be an easter egg hunt, they are only to find 1 egg each and when they do, they are to go to the hut and retrieve their prize. All morning afterwards the children got excited but nowhere as excited as Ms Naylor……. she has a love of anything chocolate. The majority of the children tried to look for them on their morning break but couldn’t find a one but during the break, Serena, Bernie and Jason found a very tired Arthur sitting in his chair with a cool glass of water, holding it to his forehead.   
“Mr Digby, can I come in please?” Arthur sat a little straighter, not having the energy to do much else and patted the chair next to his desk. “Sir, I would like you to sign these please. I want Aunty Serena and Mrs Wolfe, Bernie, to become my parents officially.” With that he thrusted the papers at the teacher nearly knocking his glasses off his face. Arthur smiled at the three of them after he read through the paperwork. “Jason I would be very honoured to do that for you. But young man, I have one question, not for you but for your potential parents.” Jason turned around and looked at them, they looking at Arthur in return, puzzled. “I see on this paperwork here, that you are engaged. Where is my invite to the wedding?” He asked with a massive smile, they didn’t see Morven waiting in the doorway, she squealed and ran over to them offering her congratulations with a massive 3 way hug, she did it so loudly that the whole school heard, well all of the staff heard, all of the them came running in from the staffroom into his classroom (his room was the closest to it) thinking something was wrong. “Well we haven’t set a date yet, but as soon as we do, I will ensure you get one, you will all get one.” Serena said holding onto Bernie while showing off her engagement ring. Everyone cheered and chinked their coffee mugs, they all talked in Arthur’s classroom until the bell rang signalling break time was over. Hand in hand Bernie walked Serena back to her classroom afterwards she headed to Henrik’s office, she had paperwork for him to sign off.

“Congratulations Ms Wolfe, do you have the assessments that need signing off?” Bernie checked that they were all there, in the correct order and handed them over; she took the indicated seat and waited for him to read almost every word and punctuation mark. He made comments here and there, nothing too major, each one he signs off then gets his papers out for her to read. “What is this?” She asks bewildered. Hansen leans back, straightens his lens and pencils on his desk and waits as she reads what has been given her. “How does this include me?” She pulls the form out with her name on, with Serena’s name on. “Well Ms Wolfe, I think that children should learn about marriage, civil partnerships and same sex marriages. Children need to learn that loving another is natural, no matter what race, colour, religion or sex you are, that same sex marriages matter just as much as heterosexual marriages do. I also want to give Arthur one last wish, dying wish I suppose.” Bernie nodded, still had no clue where this was going. “I have spoken to the priest, on one of his many visits this week already and he has agreed to give you and Serena a blessing, he would love to do the full marriage but as he says, ‘the church hasn’t caught up with the 21st century yet’. So can only do a blessing.” Bernie sat there trying to figure out what exactly was he wanting, there are 3 sheets of paper, two of which have already been signed. “So Mr Hansen, let me get this right, this paperwork here” she wafts the one with just their names on in the air, “is for me and Serena to get our marriage blessed in the church, with all the school there by judging the date and time?” She was making sure she has the full comprehension of what he was asking. He just simply nodded, he showed them the ‘special licence’ for Morven and Arthur, it was for the same day, theirs was to be in the morning to be exact. There was another for Dom and Lofty too.   
“Have you spoken to Serena?” Bernie stutters, he shakes his head with a smile, “I thought that you could do it on my behalf, that way I won’t be in the firing line.” Bernie laughs, the tension leaving her, “yes Mr Hansen, I could see her flinging something at you at just the mere suggestion.” With that she takes the paperwork and promises to get back in touch tomorrow with an answer. The wedding, civil ceremony and blessing is for the 18th June, a significant date for Arthur as the battle of Waterloo took place on that date. 

Bernie sat in the nurture room for a while, she wasn’t needed in any class just yet, she was taking Arthur’s class in the afternoon as the stand in teacher called to say he wasn’t coming, he has got a stomach bug. She looked at everything that she had going on, the sale of their new house, her training, a new job in September as long as she passed this course, a holiday fast approaching, their first holiday together. ‘How on earth are we going to fit it all in?’ Essie knocked on the door disturbing her from her thoughts, there was a phone call for her, her solicitor.   
Bernie was ecstatic to find that the sale of the house went through, money had been transferred and they were free to move in when they wanted. ‘One less thing to worry about’ Bernie thought, she immediately left Essie’s office to quietly informed her beloved, who made all the children jump when she squealed and flung her arms around Bernie right in the middle of the classroom just stopping short of kissing her then and there.

Tuesday night Bernie fed the children, promising Serena that they will eat when the children had gone to bed. She had set the table out, wanting it to be as romantic as possible for a school night; candles, napkins were laid out on the table, mood music playing in the background, curtains drawn which was a first for her as she hated the curtains drawn.   
Bernie cooked, they both loved pasta so chicken and bacon carbonara, with salad and garlic bread was all devoured. Her nervousness was racked up to 11 out of 10, why did Hansen ask her to ask Serena, oh thats it….he doesn’t want to be murdered. 

Bernie moved so she could sit closer to her at the table, took her hand that still had the ring pride of place on Serena’s finger and asked …..  
“Serena my love, I know next week we go and get the paperwork signed so we can have our bands read at the registry office.” Serena nodded, smiled and placed a kiss on Bernie lips “I do, I can’t wait.” Bernie kissed her back, slow and full of love. Once she got her breath back, she carried on with what she wanted to ask, her nerves are now at 15. “I’m glad you are because as soon as the 3 weeks are up, we will need to get married…..that’s if you still want to do it quickly?” Serena laughed, why on earth wouldn’t she want to marry her so quickly, she asked that directly. Bernie blushed and showed her what Hansen had planned, she took the time to explain what he wanted to do for Arthur and Morven, why he wanted them to be involved too. Serena was gobsmacked, her face went through different emotional stages, the last being tears of happiness. “Bernie of course I will marry you straight away, even if Hansen didn’t suggest this I would marry you tomorrow if I could, are you sure about being blessed in a church though?” Serena knew that Bernie only went to the church for the school, Bernie pulled Serena up and walked them into the living room with a fresh glass of wine for them both, “I think we are doing it for the right reasons, we will be married already and we get to show the children that we have the right to love each other just like Morven and Arthur does.” Serena takes the glass off Bernie, places it on the coffee table and shows Bernie how much she loves her, she wants this. Their clothes that were discarded were collected on the way up to bed, only to start all over again.

Bernie and Serena had planned to play a trick on Henrik on Wednesday morning, Serena was going to give him the third degree but the news of Arthur being kept in all night as he had a reaction to his treatment and the fact that he is needing to see his oncologist sooner rather than later was worrying so they put Henrik out of his misery.   
Bernie offered to take his class as she passed him the signed document agreeing to the blessing, stating they haven’t yet set a date for the actual wedding but they would do it over the holidays. They didn’t have much chance to speak other than that only to say thank you to them both; so with a quick kiss and a coffee on hand, Bernie went to her classroom for the day and Serena went to hers. 

Bernie, never the one to spend much time inside the classroom took the children out on a walk in the school grounds. They had a small pond that had an assortment of wildlife in and around it, she was teaching them about how caterpillars change into butterflies and how frogs lay eggs, turn into tadpoles, grow legs and then into a frog again. The children were all fascinated, they heard the story, ‘the very hungry caterpillar' so many times, some of them never realised that it was the life cycle of a butterfly in real life. When back in the classroom after morning break she talked about animals that lay eggs. Chickens and ducks were easily shouted out, other birds too. Bernie told them everything from Dinosaur eggs to snake eggs; many of the children didn’t believe that snakes lay eggs, or turtles. As luck as it youtube came to her rescue, there were plenty of videos that showed various animals hatching, she watched the children faces as they were entranced as the hatchling broke free.  
The afternoon they talked about farm animals, sheep, cows, goats, pigs along with other wildlife too. How they give birth to live animals, along with elephants, cats and dogs. How an elephant only gives birth to 1 calf at a time and is pregnant for nearly 2 years and mice are only pregnant for about 3 weeks. Bernie gets them to work out how many times can a mouse have babies in the cycle of an elephant, 34 is the answer and to top that off a mouse can give birth up to 7 babies at a time, which makes it a mouse can have 238 baby mice in the time it creates an elephant to have 1 calf. Then as you can all imagine, there has to be one that asks the question……. “Ms Wolfe, how are babies made?” Bernie has never been so grateful for the bell in her life, that and the fact it is assemble after break then PE and then home. That question can wait until tomorrow.

That question was all but forgotten, she again to Arthur’s class as he was still in hospital, he had sent eggs and cards for all of the staff and his class which she would give out at the end of the day with Morven. All of the school children had the register taken first thing then walked over to the church for their annual easter service. Serena and Bernie managed to sit together, the priest having a quick word before they sat, “I am so pleased you said yes, I am just so sorry I can not perform the actual wedding.” Serena placed her hand on his elbow, a nod of understanding and “we completely understand but we both hope you will still come to the actual wedding.” He nodded and smiled, “I would love too.” With that he raised his hands and was straight into “He’s got the whole world in his hands” hymn, all of the children sang their hearts out, did their readings and were decorating the church with daffodils from Miss Tamplin’s garden, she grew them especially for the service. Some of the year 6’s also got to plant new flowers outside over the past week, getting the church yard ready for the summer. 

Bernie got Hansen and Morven to watch over the children while she took Serena out to Ellie’s grave, Miss Tamplin was very kind and saved a large bunch of daffodils for Serena to put on her daughters grave, so while the last hymn was sung Bernie and Serena spent those precious moments with her daughter, Serena telling Bernie about the few easters she had with her daughter.

The afternoon was the egg hunt and the easter bonnet parade, none of their children won the prize for their class, Fletch won the teachers award as voted by the children. Gloating all the way back to the class with Jason who was also pleased with his teaching assistant and friend. With that they all gathered in the staff room, Arthur was having another scan today and speaking to his oncologist. The news wasn’t good, the treatment was to be stopped and he would live his final days doing what he loved the most. Bernie promised to stay with him, finish off her teaching degree with her in his classroom full time, Hansen would help the ever growing Ms Effanga as the new teaching assistant wasn’t what they would hoped. She couldn’t commit to all day, so that left them a little short handed but nothing that they couldn’t cope with. A egg given to all of the staff from Henrik, they left to enjoy their easter holidays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trust me I'm not this fluffy in real life.  
> Thanks for reading x


	41. Planning and Decorating - Part 1.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A talk with their friends is in order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, this chapter was rather large so I am splitting it in a few slightly shorter chapters.  
> Hope you enjoy x

They spend the Sunday night at the new house, on roll out mats for their beds and in sleeping bags. The children, Jason included loved it, Serena not so much until she found out that hers and Bernie’s sleeping bags could be joined to make a double one, that and she needed to sleep naked, needed to feel Bernie’s skin in hers. Of course Bernie needed to, too. The alarm blared and they all rose, cereals all and fruit juice around, not forgetting the coffee for there ladies too, much needed before starting decorating the children’s bedrooms. They opted to do all of the ceilings first, luckily they had some left over white emulsion so Bernie gave their bedroom a quick going over too, they couldn’t do too much in there as they needed to have extra plugs and wall lights in there and needed therefore it was necessary to have the wall dug out in places for the wiring.

Bernie stood there rolling her shoulders and neck, it was hard work doing their room, it was full of fiddly bits as there was still the Georgian architraving all around the ceiling edges and around the two ceiling lights. It took time with the brush, Serena tried to keep the kids entertained, letting them play in the back garden before the skip arrived, then she got them to carefully take out the things they no longer wanted out of their rooms, the bathroom and the airing cupboards. Each bedroom had an airing cupboard that seemed to be full of junk. Some contained historical newspapers that she checked, a set of old medals and uniform to which she set aside to give back to the sellers, a pile of old love letters and a tapestry which she took a liking to, so she would keep if the sellers agreed. Serena was glad that they all had old clothes on, she gave the children dust masks as everything everywhere was just so dusty, that was the next thing she had planned once the skip was filled. 

There were several people in and out of the house during the morning. Servicing the boiler, the Aga and putting in the new radiators where needed, mainly down stairs. The man who came to look at the floorboards confirmed that they could be sanded and varnished, as he had a cancellation he was free next week which was excellent as they would be away and wouldn’t disturb him; it would also mean it should be dry by the time they returned. A landscape gardener came, Serena didn’t particularly want one but as they wanted to get married at their home, she needed one to do the work quickly. Her intentions afterwards would be to keep on top of it, add things in here and there. Bernie had no opinion about outside, just not to get rid of the trees at the bottom to the large blossom tree in the centre of the garden.

Fletch called around, offering to take the children to the park, not that Bernie and Serena had much choice as they were out through the gate without a goodbye or kiss my butt! They didn’t mind at all. Fletch gave them an estimated time to which they would be return, also offering them an evening meal at his house with the children and Raf, they initially refused as they didn’t bring a change of clothes but he said it wasn’t a problem, it was only a curry night anyway. So with that, they agreed with thanks.

Serena could see Bernie walking stiffer than usual, “come on, on the sleeping bag and strip.” Bernie couldn’t protest, she new she needed it, but strip really? As a good soldier, she did as she was told. Serena got out the tube of heat cream from her bag and worked her way up and down Bernie’s back and neck, releasing all the tight knots and kinks that had developed while sleeping on the floor and painting 4 ceilings. Once satisfied and Bernie able to move easier, she left to wash her hands. At the Georgian ceramic sink she felt Bernie’s arms wrap around her centre, she snakes her hands underneath the t shirt and plays gently with Serena’s hardening nipples, “we can’t do this here” Serena moans, Bernie kisses her neck and nibbles on the lobe of her ear, “we can, you have to be quiet, I have locked our bedroom door…..I want you…..I need you.” Serena needed and wanted her too, without another protest Bernie stripped Serena of all of her clothes, sat her on the roll top bath and spread her wide, kissing fervidly as two fingers entered the dark, warm wet place of Serena’s core. Serena used her left hand to steady herself on the bath, with her right hand she moved Bernie’s knickers to one side and too entered her with two digits, using the same slow speed of thrusts that Bernie is doing to her. Faces in each other necks, words whispered, kisses and nips given, Bernie’s bra clad breasts giving Serena the friction she needs on her larger ones.   
Feeling the need to send her over the edge Serena touches Bernie’s clit with her thumb, Bernie follows her actions and they both cum, Bernie first followed by Serena mere seconds later. 

With a less intense kiss, a smile they manoeuvre themselves so Bernie is leaning over the bath tub, one leg on the rim, wide open for Serena who kneels between her legs and takes her first swipe at Bernie’s dripping core. Bernie can’t keep still, presses back into Serena’s face to get her tongue just that little bit deeper, she roughly rubs her own clit as she fucks Serena’s face, enjoying her nose gently massaging her anus too, Serena’s hands go to Bernie’s hips, encouraging her to move freely. “S…….Serena move……..oh shit”. Serena doesn’t move, in fact she lines herself for the inevitable gushing of cum, lapping it up as she cums, helping Bernie through her orgasm until she falls to her knees, in Serena’s lap. Bernie turns her head and kisses Serena, sharing the juices that have just come from her body.

They hear voices, a door trying to be opened, they call out saying they will be out shortly. It’s Cam’s voice, “they are back sooner than they said.” Bernie breathes out, trying to stand on her wobbly legs. Serena throws on her clothes, underwear forgotten, and answers the door to their brave but swollen lipped boy. There is a cut to Cam’s mouth and it is bleeding a little, he is ok apart from that but Fletch wanted him to get checked out. Bernie finally comes from the bedroom and checks him over, promptly sending him back to the park. There was no stitches needed, he had tried to head the ball but miscalculated it and it hit lip instead.

Now redressed they headed to Jason’s room to put the first coat of paint on three of his walls. It didn’t take long really as Serena cut in and Bernie rolled the paint on, the same with Cam’s and then Charlottes. The three rooms were almost finished when the children arrived back, amazed at what a fresh coat of paint does to a room.   
Jason talks them through where he wants his furniture in his bedroom, Cam is still waiting to go to Ikea, so is Charlotte although she has seen some on their website. At this rate they could go on Wednesday after they go to the register office, leaving the electricians in the house to do what they need to do, thankful that it is only taking one day to rewire the whole house.   
They stood in what is to be the study, measured the walls and painted it in the slate grey from Charlottes room as there was lots of paint left over. There was room enough for 2 desks and a whole wall full of shelves and a place to put bean bags so the children could read if they so wished in there. Serena had her iPad out, already on the Ikea app (again), looking at the type of shelving and desks they wanted, Bernie wanted something sturdy which she declared with a smirk on her face after immediately disregarding one flimsy looking desk, that smirk that Serena knows too well and only comes out when she is horny. A thing she would file away for later, now they had to at least wash up before heading over to Raf and Fletch’s for their teas.

Because it was so close they walked, which also meant that the two ladies could enjoy a beer or two, three or four. The children all enjoyed eating around the table while the adults sat on the floor in the living room, talking about what needs to be done in the new house, the plans for the holiday and where was booked, Bernie surprised everyone by telling them that she had booked a log cabin as the caravans were all booked up or having 2 separate ones meant that they wouldn’t necessarily be near each other. So on Serena’s iPad she showed them pictures, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, the balcony and was overlooking the beach and there was the pub on sight too. For the children there were low ropes, bike hire, ball play area for the toddlers, football pitch and park for all of them, just to name a few. Fletch and Raf were gobsmacked, “so the boys in one room, the girls in the other, you and Serena in another and us in the last?” Bernie nodded, “there are 2 sets of 2 bunk beds in the children's rooms with room for a cot if needs be, a double bed for them both and a barbecue too. “Can you put up with us for the week?” Bernie asked, hoping she hadn’t overstepped the mark in changing the plans without discussing it first. Raf in his Scottish brogue piped up with enthusiasm “it’s us should be asking you.” With beer bottles chinked they went back to their curries. 

In the end Bernie and Serena ended up staying the night after being rather tipsy and the children falling asleep; It had been quite a busy day for them all. As the beer flowed, so did Serena’s tongue, she told their friends on her plans to become a mum again, the impending wedding which was going to be sooner than either of them expected and the reasons why. “So which clinic are you going to go to?” Raf asked, a perfectly normal question, Serena went bright red, Bernie couldn’t hold eye contact. Actually saying the words outright were going to be more difficult than either of them imagined, even if it was a joke to start off with.   
Raf actually hasn’t got any biological children as ‘their’ children all come from Fletch’s previous relationship, he offered to look into it for them but something somewhere felt off. “We…….w……oh god Bernie help me out.” Bernie’s face burned, she took hold of Serena’s hand and gripped it vice like, this could all go very wrong. “We both wondered if you would like to be the father of our child?” Bernie said looking directly at Raf. He went silent, his face went through different stages but then it suddenly fell. After a short time with no answer, he cleared his throat and spoke, “I wish I could help you both, but when Amy was pregnant, my wife.” Bernie and Serena looked at each other in disbelief, they never knew Raf was married before. “She was pregnant, there was a chance it was mine a very slim chance as my sperm count is very, very low. But then she told me she had an affair with my colleague, my friend, when the baby was born we had a DNA test and found out that it was his. We broke up and she left to go back to Malaysia.” “Oh Raf I am so, so sorry….If I had known, we had known, we wouldn’t have asked……..i’m so bloody selfish.” Serena said hugging her friend, thankful that he hasn’t thrown them out at just the mere suggestion. There were a few minutes of silence, not uncomfortable but no one knew what to say next. 

“Shall we leave?” Bernie asks, she hates these types of silences, it makes her on edge, “God no Bern, stay, unless you want to leave?” Serena gets up, the tears in her eyes are clearly visible as she makes her way to the downstairs toilet. “Excuse me a minute, I need too…..” Both Fletch and Raf nodded and watched Bernie go after Serena who is clearly distraught in the toilet. “Serena it’s me…..please baby, let me in.” The door opens ever so slightly and Bernie lets herself if, finding Serena on the floor by the bath. “I’m so selfish!” She snots, Bernie tries to reassure her that wanting another baby isn’t selfish, its perfectly normal. “Look Serena, we can go through a private clinic with a donor…….we can and will get through this.” Serena looks at Bernie with hope.

Meanwhile back in the living room, Raf and Fletch clear away the plates and cutlery, bring fresh cold beers out and discuss the ways that they can help their friends. “You could,” Fletch starts, “you’re not infertile Raf, just have a very low sperm count. I could too.” Raf thinks over what his husband has just said, “lets get them back put here and talk.” Raf knocks on the toilet door, with a “come in” he peers his head around, “come on, lets talk…..I want to know more about what you were thinking, how you wanted it to go.” Serena washed her face and held Bernie’s hand, walking back into the room where the gentlemen were. 

Now a little more sober, Bernie explains that what started out as a joke actually became a thing, using a turkey baster. “You have to be quick you know,” Raf said in his ‘doctors tone’. “The sperm can’t be allowed to cool too much and you would have to do it very quickly, within minutes.” Serena was sure she was turning into the Churchill dog, constantly bobbing her head up and down with a ‘yes’ every now and then where appropriate, unsure of exactly what they were implying. Bernie had some hope, “as my husband pointed out, I am not infertile, so depending on what you want from me as a father, then…..” Serena butted in, she wanted to be clear from the outset. “Raf, thats the thing, we don’t want you to be the baby’s father, if, a BIG if, it worked. We will never stop you from being in the Childs life one way or another, but it would be our child to bring up.” Raf’s face showed relief, he had problems…..not problems exactly looking after 4 of his own. 

“So let me be clear, you want me just to be the donor, not going to be on the birth certificate, have no parental rights?” Bernie and Serena nodded in unison, both actually shaking in fear. “So if both myself and Fletch placed some sperm in a pot, handed it over to you both to inseminate with, into Serena or either of you…..then what?” Bernie let Serena take the lead, “then we see if I get pregnant. But what do you mean…… are both of you going to put sperm in a pot?” Fletch states that this way they won’t know who the father is but it would increase their chances of getting pregnant. “So when he or she starts to talk with a Scottish accent we will know it is Raf’s but if they speak like a cockney then we know it is Fletches!” Bernie’s frank statement clears the air, all laughing about it. “We can do it on holiday if you like, if your periods etc would allow?” Serena nods, tears forming in her eyes again, this time out of joy, the dream, their dream was still alive and their best friends were going to help them achieve their dream.   
“There is one thing though……” Serena says as they say goodnight at the top of the stairs. They all look to her, “please keep this between ourselves, no one must know, not even the children.” They hug and agree, that was that, hopefully by the end of their holiday next week, Serena could be pregnant.


	42. Planning and Decorating - Part 2.

Serena was a little nervous to leave the cocoon of the bedroom, Bernie practically had to drag her out, promising that it all would be ok. That Raf and Fletch would have thought about it and wouldn’t have said yes unless they didn’t want to. Gripping Bernie’s hand tight she walked into the kitchen where everyone was sitting, waiting for their breakfast. The tension that Serena expected really wasn’t there at all. There was teasing from Fletch to the kids, Raf handing out toast to those that requested it, milk and juice was being passed around like nothing had happened. “See I said it would be ok,” Bernie whispered with a reassuring kiss to the brunette’s temple, a final squeeze then they separated to say good morning to all.  
A brief discussion on what they wanted to do, instructions to all the kids and grateful acceptance of help from the lads, including Mikey all took place while clearing the mass production of food away.

Evie offered to look after the toddlers while her dad’s and Mikey went to help them sort out the children’s bedroom, for a fee of course as she wanted to go to the cinema in the week with her friends; Serena promised to pay her for having her siblings as they were actually doing jobs for the new house, they agreed on a fee, Raf protested but he didn’t win the argument and eventually graciously backed down.   
Bernie wanted to put the mural up and needed as many hands as she could get to keep it tight and rub the air bubbles out of it at the same time; Raf took the lower part, Bernie took the higher edges as Fletch pulled it tight.

While downstairs, Serena needed help in the garden, in the kitchen and in the laundry room. All of the cupboard doors needs to come off in the kitchen and laundry room as she is planning on sanding them ready for painting. The ladies had planned originally to gut and replace the whole kitchen but as everything worked and the wedding only a few weeks away, it would be quicker to do this; nothing that a quick coat of paint couldn’t fix and a good clean, maybe a project for later down the line, when they are well settled and a little less going on.

Serena got the children to stay downstairs while Bernie, Raf and Fletch carefully stuck the mural onto the wall. “It is like being in Blue Peter ain’t it? With all this sticky back plastic.” Bernie giggled, Raf rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “You would be a great Blue Peter presenter Fletch.” Raf says a little tongue in cheek which earned him a slap on his backside; She playfully berates the boys as she calls them, “hey you two…..none of that in here, save it for the adult’s bedroom,” she wiggles her finger just as she would telling a naughty child off. Fletch quipped back immediately “ding dong…….so when are you christening it then?” Bernie gave the answer straight away by blushing a bright red all the way down below the neckline of her t-shirt; neither of them commented though, which Bernie is eternally grateful for. 

After a few tries, the mural is finally on with not a bubble in sight and perfectly straight. While they were at it they hung the curtail pole and covered Jason’s radiator with a cover, thats all they could do for now. They all stood back and looked at their handy work, Fletch praised Bernie for doing what Jason envisioned, he knows how much Jason will scrutinise the work, “well then lets shout him up.” Bernie says all nervous, he may not actually like it. Fletch and Raf headed downstairs, told Jason and Serena that Bernie needed them and could they head upstairs straight away, “close your eyes before you get in there Jason, Mum Bernie has worked really hard and so has your Mum Serena.” Jason’s face was a picture, he absolutely loved it, after a few minutes of closer scrutiny he picked up on only one thing. “But it doesn’t quite go to the edges mum Bernie.” Bernie placed a hand on his shoulder, pointed and measured the gap to make sure she was correct, “we can put a frame around the outside…….paint it chrome…..that way you can think you are looking at the universe as if you are in a spaceship.” Jason loved the idea, he asked if the radiator cover could be painted in the same colour too as at the moment it was brown; the ladies had no objection. He shouted up the others who were equally as impressed. So apart from a bed, curtains and furniture, Jason’s bedroom is complete.

Bernie sends the children out and back downstairs to Raf and Fletch while the ‘adults’ discuss what they are going to do next. Serena wraps her arms around Bernie’s waist, sneaking her arms up underneath Bernie’s top; “we could put up the curtain poles on the landing and hallway, I can’t do much more now until I sand the wooden cupboard door front’s.” They share a brief kiss, as they part Serena continues to tell Bernie what she needs to do. “I need to strip them bare, rub oil deep in their veins….I mean stain them……” she whispers “your knickers……..” Softly in her ear as she delves her hand deep in Bernie’s to find the wetness gathering; “before screwing them into place once more.” Bernie’s eyes darken, she knows Serena isn’t quite just talking about the kitchen doors, after all she had no release herself yesterday really. 

Bernie pushed her against the wall pulling Serena’s hands out of her own knickers, held her hips in place as she bit down on the flesh below the ear “Ms Campbell,” she drawls, “you need a valuable lesson in patience.” Serena was about to protest when Bernie slid her knee between her legs and put just the right amount of pressure to tease as her tongue now lathes the reddening mark. Serena desperately tries to grind down on Bernie’s leg, every time she does Bernie lowers her leg. “Please,” she begs. Bernie pushes her into the wall further as she pulls away and runs downstairs with a chuckle, leaving Serena to gather her wits about her once more.   
She needs, oh god she really needs to take the edge of her throbbing horniness, otherwise she was going to kill someone. That someone being her blonde bombshell that has just left her in such a state. So before she heads downstairs she goes to their bedroom, sits in the bucket chair by the vanity unit and strips below the waist. She takes a few deep breaths, trying to steady her shaking hands, she sets up her phone, so it just sits right to film what she is about to do; now calm enough to precede Serena presses play and opens herself wide, showing the camera how ready she is. There was only one small problem, she thought she pressed the film button but instead she pressed the video call one, Bernie downstairs was getting a birds eye view of her fiancé. 

Bernie sees Serena’s face on the video call, notices that she is rather flush, politely but quickly she removes herself from the kitchen while holding her finger over the speaker, she walks into the conservatory and watches as Serena fucks herself hard and fast until she cums again and again, watches closely as the juices flow out of her core. Feeling a sudden burning in her chest she decides that she can no longer stay downstairs.   
Ever so quietly the blonde makes her way up the stairs, avoiding all the noisy steps; tiptoes over the landing and enters the bedroom. Serena is startled to find Bernie rushing over to her, she tries to close her legs but the blonde gets there first, keeps them apart and with the tip of her tongue that curls to gather the creamy fluid, she takes her first swipe. Serena bucks, lifts her hips of the bucket chair further into Bernie’s mouth. Bernie keeps her there, elevated, planting her strong hands underneath the brunettes arse cheeks, using her elbows on the cushion to keep her steady. Delving deep and slow, she brings Serena to the edge once more, keeps her on the edge for as long as she can before sucking earnestly on the engorged nub. Serena bucks hard again and again, lifting the chair as she does so, almost falling backwards but is thankful to Bernie for keeping her almost upright, well the chair upright. Bernie doesn’t release her until she is pushed away, too sensitive to take anymore; Bernie lowers Serena back to the cushion, lowers the chair back on all four legs as Serena slumps over her, panting heavily in Bernie’s ear. “Sorry……..sorry…..I ……..” Bernie lifts her head, waits until she can open her eyes before kissing her deeply, sending the apology back into her, there was no need for any apology. “I love you!” Bernie says as they break for air, “I love you too.” Serena replies as she brings her legs to the floor, moaning at the friction this causes. “You stay here, I will finish taking the fronts off and when you are ready come down.” Serena nods, kisses the blonde once more and watches as she struts out of the bedroom.

When Serena reappears, all of the doors have been taken off and everyone is having a masterclass in sanding. “You go with the grain of the wood,” Fletch says, his hand over Jason’s then over Mikey’s. Raf has his hands on Charlottes to add a little more pressure and Cam is watching intently, waiting for his help, Bernie is prepping the area where they are going to paint them, in the garage as she knows the smell of the paint is rather odious. Serena greets them all and helps Cam, “long strokes” she whispers as he was doing small ones that could scratch the wood more than they needed too, he quickly got the hang of it. When they were done, they took their door to Bernie, who laid it out and took off the knobs and hinges. All in all it really didn’t take too long; they were finished well before tea time which gave them a chance to head home, cook tea and have showers before bedtime. Tomorrow they were heading to the registry office to get their bands read and then off to Ikea.

“I think we will need to hire a van.” Bernie says as they lay exhausted in bed, finally their own comfy bed and not a sleeping bag on the floor of their new bedroom. Serena agreed, she would take the children home in Bernie’s car and Bernie could hire a van from Ikea afterwards, or there was a hire company just across the road anyway. “I will have all the documents I will need for when we go to the registry office, so I will just bring them with us, maybe eat at Ikea too?” Bernie states, Serena sleepily smiles, she loves the meatballs in gravy, soon after she falls asleep in Bernie’s arms, who follows shortly after.

Wednesday morning both Bernie and Serena were up at the crack of dawn, excited and ready to go. Both sharing a shower, to help smooth out the knots in their muscles from all the decorating and sleeping on the floor (of course), they finally get dressed and head down stairs. Bernie checks that they have everything that they need, then checks again and again until Serena pushes her into the kitchen to make a start on their tea. They planned on eating at Ikea but that would only likely to be something quick and small. So Bernie set on part cooking the pasta for a carbonara while Serena got together all of the breakfast things, juice in beakers etc, ready for when the children wake. The registry office appointment was at 10am, so breakfast and the children dressing needed to be quick. So preparation was everything today. Once all set out Serena woke the children up, set out their clothes ready and clean towels for a quick wash before heading back downstairs, thankful as Bernie also made her some toast and coffee while making the rue for the sauce. Breakfast went smoothly, there was no traffic into town to the registry office and they sat waited patiently to be called in, the paperwork all filled out ready, including the one so they can get married at their new home.

“Ms Wolfe and Ms Campbell please.” The stern woman called, the children all stood quietly and followed the clerk into the room, sat quietly on the chairs at the back of the room while the ladies nervously handed over all the paperwork and documentation. The clerk spent a long time looking at their previous marriage certificates and divorce decree, as she read over Bernie’s double checking the date she gave a disapproving look, not at Bernie herself but the reasons for the divorce; as she handed back the documentation to Bernie her eyes looked at her with sorrow, a look of understanding of what she had been through.  
The woman seemed to look at every punctuation mark, scrutinised it as if Jason was partaking in a new experiment at school, finally she nodded, took off her glasses and shook hands congratulating them on their upcoming nuptials. She said that the bands will be put up tomorrow and they would need to be there for 3 weeks, if there were no issues they could get married then, just before they left the room the woman asked, “would you like to book a registrar while you are here?” Bernie smiled, Serena got out her phone and checked the dates. “The 25th May?” Serena asked her fiancé, mentally calculating it in her head, 3 weeks and 4 days until the wedding and a further 3 weeks and 3 days before their blessing in the church with the whole school looking at them. “We can have a small honeymoon then as it is half term week.” Bernie replies, Serena turns back and ask if they are free in the evening of the 25th of May, “the last appointment we have is at 4:30, would that be ok?” Bernie squeezed Serena’s hand to confirm silently and that was that, they had a wedding booked for 25 days time. Now just to finish the house, plan and get everything they needed before they say I do!

The trip to Ikea was uneventful but fruitful. They managed to get all of the furniture for the children’s rooms sorted, including bedding and curtains. The ladies couldn’t decide on a bed for themselves so they agreed that they would take Bernie’s bed as it was only a few months old and has the orthopaedic mattress that they both love, that and there is plenty of storage underneath the bed too! And we know they definitely need that.   
Serena has the better wardrobes and draws all matching, very similar wood to Bernie’s bed frame too so that will move over. They buy all fresh nic naks for the bathroom and laundry rooms, a stack of pegs that they seem to constantly run out of (3 packs in total). 2 full length mirrors, one for the bathroom and one for the ladies bedroom, smaller ones for the children's bathrooms and a full set of matching towels including bathmats. Bernie has no idea why they can’t chose their own colours; Serena rolls her eyes and just piles all of the dark blue ones she can find. But before she puts them in the now half full 2nd trolley she unfolds them, checks them and refolds them again, disposing of ones that she finds unsuitable.   
At the rug section Serena finds a large faux fur rug, her eyes light up and practically begs Bernie to have it, the puzzled complexion continues until Serena tells her exactly why, in great detail why she wants the faux sheepskin rug, her hands have found the way under Bernie’s shirt and gently scratching at the small of her back while she is being spoken to. Once Serena had finished speaking, without a single word from Bernie, Bernie quickly threw one in the trolley and striding away very flushed, Serena chuckling jogging to catch up with her, when she does so she hooks her arm in Bernie’s to find the next section needed.

They did have lunch at Ikea, as they knew it was rather small so would need the carbonara for tea, as they entered the food hall Serena picked up some extra meatballs and gravy sachets, while Bernie put in cinnamon rolls. The children had a ice cream for being well behaved and they sat and ate it while the ladies packed the hired van.   
“Mum Bernie, can I come with you in the van, to keep you company?” Jason asks, Bernie looked at Serena for approval which was given and they headed back to the new house to deposit the new furniture before heading home. Serena was slightly concerned to see the electrician still there but he reassured her that he was doing the final checks before signing the paperwork. All of the purchases were placed in the conservatory as they can’t put it up until they get back from their holiday next week, after the floorboards have been sanded, treated and dried. Bernie has managed to get in touch with her friend who is going to decorate the hall stairs and landings as it is the biggest job; they need a professional in as they cannot reach the high walls and ceilings where the stairs are, so their first job tomorrow is to go and get the paint for that and their bedroom and the bathrooms now that the electrician has rewired and put in the new sockets.

Thursday morning was a relaxed one, there was no rush to head out. They had planned to go to the decorating store to get the paint for their bedroom, hall stairs and landing, and after some late night deliberation the paint for the bathrooms. The boys and Charlotte picked their bathroom colours, Bernie and Serena were undecided on the shade of blue; Serena wanted a duck egg shell blue while Bernie wanted the darker Dr Who phone box blue. In the end they went with a light tone blue aptly named baby blue. So off they went in search for all their items.   
2 hours later and an exhausted Bernie leaves the shop, they have had to have several paint pots made especially as the colours they had chosen weren’t available. “Drink……pub?” She asked, Serena nodded and the children really did need a run around and the pub close to their new home has a play room and apparatus outside that they can play on until they were ready to leave. So the pub was their next stop until Bernie pulled to the side of the road quickly, “we need rings, as we may need to order them in, which means we need to buy them as soon as we can.” Serena almost leapt out of the car, they children wondered what on earth was happening but dutifully following behind. 

Looking at the various wedding rings, Serena spotted a rather unusual ring. It was made out of white gold and had what looked like a feather pattern all around it. Serena had a thing for feathers and what they symbolise; when she sees one floating around her she sees it as a sign from heaven, from Ellie to remind her that she is still with her in spirit. She loves the peacock feather design too and the different colours feathers can be. She was concerned though, it was a one off piece but wanted to get a matching set. Bernie wasn’t bothered about that and tells her so, so they head inside and enquire. The young woman with an eyeglass that seemed to be glued to her right eye came out from behind the curtain, Bernie wondered wether being a hippy actually still allowed this day in age but the look suited the shopkeeper. “Ah ladies, can I help you?” Bernie asked if she could see the tray that had the ring that Serena liked, carefully the woman opened the window, took the tray out and placed it on front, the children squeezed their way to the front leaving Bernie and Serena looking over their heads. As always Jason seemed to have an instinct to what his adoptive mum would want and points to it straight away, with a nod from Serena the shopkeeper takes it out and gives it to Serena to try on but it was just a tad small, not just going over her knuckle. Bernie could see the disappointment in her eyes so asked if it could be made smaller, the young girl shook her head and explained that because of the feathered pattern it couldn’t; Serena gave it back and was about to walk away.   
“My fiancé here wanted us to wear matching wedding rings, would it be possible to do another in her size if this one fitted me?” The girl smiled, gave the ring back to Serena so she could see if it fitted Bernie. Standing face to face, tears in her eyes, she slid the ring onto Bernie’s left ring finger, it was like the glass slipper in Cinderella, it fitted perfectly. “Could you possibly engrave Serena’s ring?” The shopkeeper got out her pad, wrote the ring size needed and handed it back to Bernie, she just wrote a few words, kept it hidden from Serena as she didn’t want her to know until the day of the wedding and handed the pad face down back. “It will be ready in 2 weeks, shall I keep that one for then too?” Bernie forgot the ring was still on her finger, they paid the bill before leaving, all with smiles on their faces.

On the brief drive home Charlotte was concerned with what she and Evie will be wearing, wanted to know if they could go on a shopping trip without the boys. “A girls day out?” She asked. Bernie promised to ask Fletch and Raf if they wouldn’t mind looking after the boys for a few hours later in the week if they got chance or after the holiday if they didn’t, if so they could go then, but then the boys would need a shopping trip too. Jason was about to complain until Serena gave him a death stare, which quickly shut him up, she did put him at ease saying he didn’t have to wear a suit, “it would be too warm for a suit any Jason, so please don’t worry about that.” He hated suits, the last time he wore one was to his mothers funeral where his nan Adrienne made him wear one before her own demise.

They headed back to the new house and dropped off all of the paint, put it in the rooms that they needed to and cleaned ready for Friday. In the evening Bernie and Serena discussed what dresses they would like to see the girls in, they agreed that they didn’t want to go too fluffy and puffed out in net, they had a look online when the children are in bed. After a lot of no’s they find a gorgeous ivory dress with rose and peony flowers all around it with a deep red sash at the natural waist line, Bernie loves it, she knows Serena is likely to get a red dress of some description, she too was hoping for a coloured dress and there was plenty of colours in it to choose from green, blue, gold just to name a few.   
Now onto the boys.  
That was a little more difficult, in the end they decided on grey. Serena had seen on the Next website they had shorts, a white shirt and a waistcoat, they did it in everyones size but it did need to be ordered in, they did so and would wait for it to come in, more than likely to be after their holiday now.

Friday they spent the day decorating, they took a bathroom each and finished it rather quickly, the children had fun playing in the back garden as the sun was out. Bernie had found her old tent and brought it along for them to play in although there were strict instructions not to make a campfire; If they did behave they could have a barbecue for tea. It took them a while to figure out how to put up the large tent, thanks to Evie who had been a scouter for a few years, she had it up in a matter of minutes after she arrived. There was lots to do and explore in the garden; the woods especially, they found an old rope swing, you know the one where you sit in a tyre and swing for hours and a day and there was a stream too, only a small one, the children enjoyed paddling in the running water, squealing when they first dipped their toes in the cold water, which did turn into a water fight, Serena glad they stripped down to their underwear first and the fact they hung it on the washing line to dry afterwards, again thanks to Evie’s height reaching the line.

The evening drew in, everyone was too tired for the barbecue so decided to leave it until the holiday, that and the fact they needed to pack for it. The tent went in the garage, all packed away neatly and they headed back home. An early night for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the abrupt ending but it was getting rather long.  
> Hope you enjoyed nevertheless xx


	43. Saturday - The start of their holiday.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are off on their holi-bobs.

As per usual, Bernie is still packing her things on the morning they go away, Serena rolls her eyes so many times her fiancé swears that is the reason why she has eyes at the back of her head, however they still manage to set off in time to meet the lads, a little reshuffling of children and off they all go. Bernie has booked a mini bus in the end, saving on petrol, fits everyone and the buggies in, they can all share the driving and most importantly the kids are together after arguing who is going in who’s car.   
Serena is in the back row sat happily between the toddlers, Bernie is driving and thankful for the rear view mirror view of Serena, Fletch is sitting next to Jason on the front row in the back; Evie, Charlotte and Cameron are all on the middle row and Raf is directing up the front, staying one step ahead of the sat nav that loves to send Bernie in all different directions than she should be going. Bernie insists that she knows the way but Serena and Raf persist moaning (as Bernie calls it) to use the sat nav as it will give her immediate traffic updates and will give her new directions if there is a problem anywhere. So half an hour into the journey on the motorway, they are all stuck in a traffic jam, Bernie having a smug look on her face as she wouldn’t have gone this way if she had her choice; they haven’t moved for 10 minutes and to a child, never mind 7 of them, that is like a lifetime, with not signs of moving any time soon. 

Fletch tries his best to keep the children entertained, thankful that the toddlers are asleep in their carseats. He had the good fortune to bring some really old books with him, from his own childhood, they are things to spot on a long journey or in a traffic jam. They allow the children to undo their seatbelts for now but to stay in their seats and look for the things on the page and find them in their surroundings. Jason counts the sheep in the far off field, Cam and Mikey count the blue cars stuck on the motorway, Evie and Charlotte count the lorries, and writes the names of the ones that have names on…who knew! The next thing they knew (15 minutes later) they are on the move again with warnings not to go above 40mph. Bernie starts the engine, makes sure everyone is clipped in again and they are off. Nearly an hour and a half later they end up in the holiday park and walking into the lodge, their new home for the next week. 

They are surrounded by woodland, not a neighbour in sight. There is a stream runs at the bottom of the lodge, the hot tub is already steaming away, the birds are singing, there is a blue and green dragonfly that hovers over the stream and the hot tub. In the park there is lots of room for the kids to play safely and explore, it is just perfect. So with that the adults unpack while all of the children explore their surroundings, Jason with a map of the park in hand and a list of instructions what not to do, making sure he has his mobile in his hand along with Mikey’s and Evie’s and with one final thing “YOU MUST ALL STICK TOGETHER!!!.”

The children head straight for the swimming pool. It has a large swimming area, a separate pool with a jacuzzi set off to the side, another small plunge pool where all the slides go into and a toddler area. As they walk around the outside they spot a outside wet play area where water spurts out of various areas and a lazy pool with lots of floats in that you sit to go around in.  
Upon further inspection of the park they find the crazy golf course, an enclosed park area with swings and slides, climbing frame and sand pit for the toddlers.  
They walk through the large doors into the amusement arcade and bowling alley, just past there, there is toddler play pit full of balls and a hire shop, where they can hire carts and bikes if they so wish. Armed with all this information they head back to the their lodge, hoping to have some lunch then go into the swimming pool. 

Meanwhile back at the lodge they have all unpacked the food and clothes, Serena and Bernie are now unpacking the necessities for insemination; they nervously show it all to Raf and Fletch, after a while of them looking like goldfish, just opening and closing their mouths finding themselves unable to speak, they all end up laughing when Bernie pulls out a rather large turkey baster and wields it around like a sabre. “I promise you its not the one I used at Christmas……..It’s brand new, I did however run it under the hot water and used Milton to disinfect it.” This made Serena worse as she just couldn’t stop herself from commenting, the innuendos that came out made her partner blush, “yes after all I am used to something long hard things being rammed up there by you Bernie!” she purrs just loud enough that only them all to hear and not the whole campsite, to which Bernie and the lads are grateful for. 

“On a serious note, how are we going to do it?” Fletch asks once they have all wiped their laughter filled tears away. Raf proposed that they text each other when they did their part, one of them would collect the pot and take it back to their bedroom. Serena and Bernie agreed, Fletch suggested that they do it once a night for the week, if they wanted to or were able to, “would you be…..are you sure you are still ok with it?” Bernie asked in return. The lads nodded their heads, “right ok then, so we can’t just knock on the door and say I have filled the pot……. no …….we need a code word.” Serena pipes up. In his broad Scottish twang Raf replies “ we could text ‘the bank is open’.” It takes a while and a little explanation, ‘the sperm bank is open’ before they all get it and as it needed to be explained they decided to go with it. So with that all agreed the kettle was finally put on and sandwiches made ready for when the children return.

The children come back on time and tell them what they have found; they agree that this afternoon they could all go swimming, a little fun and exercise will tire them out. Fletch stating that they are to all have an early night tonight and if they behave in the week they can stay up until 9.30 until their final night. Sandwiches, fruit and crisps eaten they all get ready in their costumes, Bernie and Serena making sure that they have their underwear in their bags along with towels. Evie and Charlotte are sharing a bag, the boys have their own, Bernie and Serena have Ella’s things in their bag and the lads have Theo’s. So with everything they needed ready they head to pick up their passes from the main reception and head to the swimming pool. 

Before entering Jason thoroughly reads the rules and tells them all very loudly when in the changing room, Serena cringing as she is almost sure that even the people outside the swimming pool can hear him. Fletch is thankful for the rather spacey family changing rooms with a cot that has a changing table on the top, rather than just a small bench to change the toddler on; so as they change, they place Theo in there where he cannot escape under the door as he has tried to do many times before.   
Ella loves her time with aunty Bernie and aunty Serena, Bernie blows raspberries on her belly as Serena puts on her swimsuit with floats already in place, you know the ones that make them look like the Michelin man but saves the trouble of trying to put arm bands on a very excited toddler. Now all ready they head to the toddler part of the pool, to meet the children.

There was one slight issue with this though, Serena walked out with Ella on her hip, walking with a slight sway to her god damn sexy hips, Bernie was unable to move, not even a breath for a minute, in fact she was going rather red on the chest and her legs and hands were shaking. Serena didn’t have a bathing costume on…….oh no…….she had a bikini, a bright red polka dot bikini on with a clasp at the back like a bra and nice thin straps going over she shoulders, the bottoms frame Serena’s pert round bottom perfectly, coming high up her thigh. Serena says something to Bernie but she gets no answer, when she turns around to find where her fiancé has gone she smirks. Bernie stumbles back a few paces and sits heavily on the seat, now taking rather deep and much needed breaths. Serena hands off Ella to Evie and saunters back towards the woman she loves more than anything, locking the door in the process.

Serena places her legs either side of Bernie’s, both her hands on the tiled wall behind her fiancé and squats down until she is resting on Bernie’s well toned thighs. She bumps her nose with Bernie’s so she is line up nicely, licks her lips and leans in; Bernie grabs Serena by the waist and pulls so they are joined together from head to waist, keeps hold of her so tightly and stands, she now kneels on the bench that she has just vacated and pushes Serena into the wall. Children laughing breaks them apart, lips swollen and bruised, chests heaving and eyes so dark, if they weren’t in such a public place then it would go the whole hog. Bernie carefully places Serena down, spends the next minute or so checking her with her fingertips and eyes, with one final peck to the lips they head back out to their friends and family.

The children head off to the slides, the adults and toddlers head to the shallow end of the pool before heading into the toddler slides. Bernie and Fletch at the bottom, handing Ella and Theo up to them, Raf and Serena letting them go down the slides to be caught at the bottom. As promised every hour the older children return to show they are safe and say where they are heading next, Evie takes over from Serena so she can sit in the jacuzzi and chill for a while. 

Serena is in a great spot to watch over the whole of the swimming area, she is watching the children play outside dodging the spurts of water, Evie lowering Ella to Bernie who in turn squeals when she is released, and of course she has a great view of Bernie in her bikini. Who would of thought that a plain black bikini with a white edging to it could be so sexy. She watched as Bernie played with the toddlers, throwing them up in the air and dunking them in the shallow water, her mind drifted to them having their own child. Would Bernie be any different, she hoped not; She knew Bernie still had a lot of hang ups about leaving her young children when she went to fight abroad but she was doing a job in the end and if men can do it and leave families behind why can’t women, why was there such a stigma for women who leave their children behind and go to work. Although saying that she was awfully happy that Bernie wasn’t leaving to go anywhere, never mind a war torn country. She would have something that she never had with Edward, she would have someone who is hands on and supportive. She is brought out of her reverie by said woman joining her. 

The time they spend in the jacuzzi they talk about their new home, Serena has accepted the offer on her place and their upcoming nuptials. They needed to do some dress shopping, the girls needed to try on their dresses and the lads their outfits too. “What about invitations?” Serena asks, Bernie says just to invite them by text, say its a summer barbecue with a twist, we don’t need presents or anything so lets just keep it a secret between us and the lads, oh and the family of course!” Serena loves the idea, she mentions about greeting their guests in their own casualish clothes and then in turn all go and get changed, the registrar can be introduced as a guest, a friend and food can be laid out in the kitchen, a cake can be hidden away in the pantry. “Everyone has phones now so we don’t need a photographer, we can be as informal as we like, until we go and get it blessed in school, then I think we will have to do things a little more traditionally.” Serena agrees with everything Bernie suggests, it is literally that simple, no grad gestures, no over the top flowers or ice sculptures (yes Serena had them at her last wedding) just the people they love and want there in a simple ceremony. 

They head back to the lads and toddlers, Bernie a few paces behind her beloved, taking in the spectacular view in front of her. Who can blame her really! She knew that Serena one night will be wearing that bikini again, and will be stripped out of it in the hot tub.   
However I digress, that is for a later date.   
The toddlers are now getting cold so they take them back to the changing rooms to get dried, the lads take the toddlers to the park while Bernie and Serena enjoy a while with the kids alone. Bernie as it seems is a dab hand at the water gun, managing to squirt everyone, even manages to free one of Serena’s breasts from her bikini - what a shot she thinks to herself, who very quickly replaces it and gives a scowl in return. They go on a few slides and have a race on the lazy river, thankful that it was only them on it. When it is time to get out, they go their separate ways, Bernie this time is in a different cubicle from Serena as they know they wouldn’t be able to keep their hands to themselves as they are now toddler less and it would be far quicker this way, as it was. They were the first to sit in the lobby, looking at the freshly baked cookies, grabbing one for each of them, guessing what they would want while waiting for the children to come out of the changing rooms.

Back at the lodge, they made their evening meal, tuna pasta back and garlic bread, something quick and easy for their first night, promising to head to the pub the following night for their teas especially as it would be a Sunday and the Carvery was on. When they finished, showers had and off they went to the arcade, a pound each for the two pence machines and two pound each for the other things and ticket machines. The toddlers are fast asleep in their buggies, which makes it easier for them all to manoeuvre around. After a little deliberation the children play on the ticket machine first and get the cards to store how many tickets they won on, Bernie putting their names on so they know who’s is who’s and then placing it in their own wallets brought just for the arcades.   
Jason does well but not as well as Charlotte who gets over 900 tickets after hitting the jackpot with the game that drops the ball in the hole. Cameron stands there gobsmacked as he watches ream after ream the tickets spurt out and the alarm going off signalling the winner. Charlotte wants to split it with her brothers and friends but Serena states that she is to put it on her own card then at the end of the week they can share out whatever she doesn’t want. Appeased, Charlotte heads off to the ticket eating machine to put her winnings safe for now.

In all fairness the children are all shattered, virtually begging for bed, so they take a slow walk back on the track to their log cabin. Goodnights are said and teeth are brushed. There is no need for a story tonight as they are all asleep before they are tucked in. A quietness settles over the adults who just bask in it, the noise from the swimming pool this afternoon and amusement arcades tonight was a little much, but now it was just perfect silence. A bottle of wine was spilt between them, small talk and then they head out into the hot tub to chill before they head to their own rooms.   
They talk a little more, hands start to wander, no kids now to stop them, they are all adults here. None of them mind kissing their partners in front of each other, not that they have done it very often but the friendship between them is so easy.   
Serena breaks away from their kiss and moves so she is back straddling Bernie, peppering Bernie with kisses to her neck and shoulders along with the odd occasional nip. She knows exactly what she is doing, she is riling her up, she has being doing it all day, purposely. The bikini, the way she is walking, making sure that their eyes linger, brief touches, whispers in her ear. Bernie slips two fingers inside the gusset of the bikini bottoms but not inside Serena, she gently with a little pressure moves them back and forwards occasionally circling her lovers clit. Without anymore being said apart from goodnights, Serena gets off Bernie, holds out her hand and leads her to bed. The lads following in shortly after.

Serena takes her time to strip and dry Bernie, not that the bikini needs a lot of effort to take off, just a few strings that have been knotted together after all. She is laid carefully on the bed, Serena lies next to her, gently swirling her fingertips all over the blonde’s body, down the scar that is down the centre of her chest, across the one that was caused by Robbie, as she goes further down, the one that brought Charlotte into the world. Each caress is followed by a kiss, the final kiss is to the c-section scar, just as she lifts her lips away she gently inserts two fingers into Bernie’s wet awaiting core. Her hips fly off the bed, a deep moan slips out as she grips her thighs and opens herself wide, hoping that Serena drags it out but makes it quick at the same time, she has been nearly on the edge since they got to the swimming pool. It is slow and loving, Serena’s fingers gently thrust and curl, then adds a gentle lapping on her clit with her tongue. It’s not often Bernie wants to scream the place down, but this is certainly one of those occasions. She bites on her arm as she grabs a fist full of her own hair, her hips buck with every thrust, Serena’s tongue now still but strong so with every buck she herself is rubbing her clit on it. Bernie cums and collapses back, Serena watching her distended clit twitch, she knows if she touches it Bernie will cum again, just that alone, instead she blows over it and gently places her lips around it and sucks; Bernie’s thighs slam shut trapping Serena in place as the juices flow freely, her lover only stopping when she is in need of air. Serena strokes and talks to her, watches as she comes around to the living world once more.

Bernie was about to take her turn but a buzz from Serena’s mobile stops them form going any further. The code is clear, the pot is on the kitchen side ready for them to do what they need to do. Bernie gets up and panders out to get it butt naked while Serena keeps herself wet and ready. They know they don’t have much time, it cannot get cool after all. Bernie places a couple of pillows under Serena’s hips, with efficiency she makes Serena come with just her tongue alone, as Serena is getting her breath back Bernie fills the turkey baster with the semen and slowly places it as far as it will go in her fiancé’s core, she thrusts it a few times to stimulate sex and she squirts it, squeezes the rubber ballon a few times to make sure it is empty. There is some left in the pot, they decide not to waste it so another part fill of the baster, some gentle thrusting then straight in, no preamble just squirts it from about a third of the way on this time. Bernie covers Serena’s body and kisses her, uses her hips to thrust and rub, tease and stimulate as their clits massage each other to a soft orgasm for them both. She is turned on by some of the semen just coming back out, dripping down Serena’s lips, she uses a wet wipe to clean Serena back up, talking how much she would like to give Serena a good pounding right now. 

With that Serena rolls off the bed carefully making sure her hips are always higher than anything else, gets herself on all fours, with a pillow to protect her chest and face as she lowers her face down in a downward dog position. Bernie moans at the sight in front of her. At least this way there won’t be any banging of the bed that will wake anyone up she thinks. She goes into the wardrobe, opens the large shower bag (that contains nothing to do with showering in it) and gets whats she wants, what they want out if it; straps herself up and tightens it, lifts Serena’s head slightly kneels before her. Bernie holds Serena’s face gently and gets her to suck on it, deep down and back up again, again and again; after all they have forgotten the lube, not that they need it.   
With the dildo suitably wet, Bernie goes behind and lines it up, grips tightly onto Serena’s waist as she thrusts the dildo deep inside her hard. Bernie keeps up a relentless pace, tries not to grab Serena’s hair to pull her back, instead she closes her eyes and focuses on the slaps of their bodies meeting, when she opens them she loves the sight of Serena gripping the pillow beneath Serena and how white her knuckles are. She only stops when Serena collapses to the floor, stated and well and truly fucked. Its not often Serena gets desperate, but Bernie loves it when she does. 

Serena can’t move, her legs have turned to jelly and her arms can no longer hold her weight. Bernie undoes the straps and allows it to fall to the floor, carefully she lifts Serena back onto the bed with her hips still slightly raised but not as much as before, one of the pillows now supporting her head. Bernie goes to clean off the dildo and returns, tucking them both in for a good nights sleep. They are going to need it tomorrow.


	44. Sunday - the holiday

Sundays are just made for being lazy when you are on holiday. There is no laundry to be done, no cleaning or hoovering, just slowly waking up to 7 children playing rather loudly. They sound very much like herds of elephants that are stampeding down the small hallway. Loud shrieks from the toddlers, you know the one, the high pitched, ear piercing squeals that can shatter glass. It seems that the older children are trying, the word being trying to keep the toddlers entertained while the adults sleep. Bernie moans and buries her head under the cover, which is all well and good face planting between Serena’s breasts but her cold nose makes Serena jerk and nearly break said nose when her elbow moves in her direction. So out she comes from underneath the duvet with a trickle of blood coming out of her nose and her eyes that won’t stop watering of its own accord. The gents however scramble to get up fearing the worst, something akin to sudocream being wiped over every surface - yes it has happened before - but to their amazement nothing. Just the toddlers running up and down while being chased by cam and Mikey, Evie and Charlotte are making toast and cups of coffee hoping to treat their parents to breakfast in bed! 

Raf knocks on the ladies bedroom door telling them to stay in bed, that there is a surprise coming there way only for Serena to ask for kitchen roll. Thankfully they do have pyjamas on after getting cold in the night or early hours of the morning; when Raf brings in their coffee’s and the kitchen roll to find Serena pinching Bernie’s nose catching the blood in her own hand. He immediately scrambles to help so when Fletch walks in with the toast he finds his husband in a very compromising position, luckily he knows it would never happen. He keeps the kids at bay so Raf his doctor husband can sort Bernie out while Serena goes to wash her hands. Once all clean she swaps with Raf who confirms nothing is broken and the bleeding has stopped; he leaves after bringing in the slightly cold toast for them to enjoy in bed. They also receive strict instructions from the kids they too head back to bed to enjoy their breakfast and coffee’s. “I could get used to this,” Fletch says as he lies in his husbands arms.  
Bless the children they even did all the washing up, but of course they are children so do have a small barter to go with it, after the fact, they wanted to spend the day at the beach, to which none of the adults could disagree with.

First, before heading to the beach they stop off at the shop to buy buckets, spades, kites, a beach ball, one of those bats with velcro on that you can catch with, lots of bottles of water and several blankets as Fletch forgot to pack them. The children spend a little while picking the right bucket and spade, there are papers and crayons in the van so they get them to make flags etc out of, so with everyone getting what they asked for they headed down to the beach.   
Bernie carefully drove onto the beach on to the side that has no dogs. She opens the back doors to keep the mini bus cool, hid the cool boxes under the van, digging a little to keep them in situ and shaded. Raf placed changing mats on the seat ready with everything that they would need and everyones towels already to hand. Fletch and Serena have already taken the children down to the waters edge, thankful that the tide is going out so they will have nearly all day there if they want to, not that the tide goes all the way to the grass verges. Fletch takes Theo out to toddle in the water, swinging him between his legs to flick the water, a giggle each time from Theo. Ella tries to copy so Serena does the same, she is glad that Ella is a lot lighter and smaller, that she can still do it. Ella loves it until she gets water un her face, Serena quickly wipes it off with her leopard print cover-up which appeases the toddler before a tantrum arises. 

The older ones have fun running in and out, splashing each other until Serena tells them to go and get their clothes off before getting too wet. They run back to the van, strip off to their swimwear, put on suncream before running straight back and resuming the water fight. After a while and just before they get bored, Fletch and Serena take the toddlers back to Bernie and Raf who are sitting and talking on the mats, the sun shade had been put up, weighed down by a few small rocks so it won’t fly away and a small paddling pool placed in it. They were waiting for someone to come back so they can fill it with water to keep the toddlers cool but fill it for the time being with their toys.

Bernie scoots closer to her partner as she sits down, Theo and Ella are happily playing in the pool in the shade as she reaches for the sun tan lotion and starts to apply it to Serena’s shoulder, pulling the cover-up down as far as she can, which is never far enough. She presses her front to Serena’s back, arranges her legs so she encircles her fiancé, now doing the other side, again pulling down the top, Serena moans, lifts the edge from underneath herself so she is no longer sitting on it, Bernie takes the hint and pulls it off, after taking her time to apply suncream to her back, neck and shoulders she blindly makes a start doing the front, enjoying tracing her fingers below the swimsuit edges. She can feel Serena squirming, getting breathless and gasping when she gets to certain parts of her body, trying her best not to react. When she can no longer cope anymore she flings the cover-up back over her head and goes down to the edge without a backward glance. “Someones on hot coals today.” Fletch says with earns a smack from Raf but he continues “maybe she didn’t get enough last night?” Bernie burns bright red and not from the sun, she coughs, scrambles up and goes to Serena to cool off. She thought that they were very quiet last night, obviously not!

Bernie stands behind Serena and wraps her arms around, she was about to apologise but she is stopped by Serena kissing her, slowly, passionately. It is Serena that pulls Bernie’s body towards her own, gripping the togs of her chino shorts until her hands wander up Bernie’s vest top, using her nails to scrape over her toned torso. Cam splashes them with water and tells them that they are embarrassing with a laugh, Evie pushes him in the water as revenge but none of it separates them, in fact what it does do is spur Bernie on. She lifts Serena’s leopard print cover-up over her thighs, lifts her and spins her around, their lips never leaving each others. Serena holds tightly on as she does, lets her lower legs lift up as she is being twirled until she is gently lowered down. As they break apart they walk back to the lads hand in hand, shoulders brushing, virtually stuck together. 

Raf shouts the children over for a game of beach footie, Fletch plays too; As Jason doesn’t like to play he is content with being a ref. They mark out the goals with their buckets full of sand and use the spades to dig out the outline of their pitch and centre line, then they are off. Evie struggles as she is sliding in the sand with her flip flop sandals on until she kicks them off but Charlotte nearly scores within the first minute to the surprise of Raf when she zooms past him, Fletch happy that she is on his team.   
Jason sets a timer of 5 minutes for each half, thinking that the older men couldn’t do any longer than that in this heat which makes Bernie’s honk of laughter echo throughout the beach, no amount of covering her mouth up will ever dim the sound of a goose that emanates from her. Fletch squeaks with admonishment and Raf says he will prove him wrong. In the end, Jason is right, after 5 minutes they are half dead on their feet and begging for water. Serena reaches under the van and hands over a bottle of water each and a piece of fruit to keep them going. When all done, their rubbish is placed in a bag and put in the cool box, water is too put back in to keep cool and they play the second half.   
Raf’s team loses, the boys were totally out played by the girls, the amount of times Evie or Charlotte kicked the balls between his legs was astonishing, in the end he ended up swapping with Bernie as the boys begged, she manages to score a few goals but a 7-4 defeat left the boys moaning about their captains skills, or lack of them.

The ice-cream van drives up and down the beach, the kids beg and plead but they don’t get one until after their lunch. The next time it passes Serena walks them over to get them, brining a few extra for the adults too, with ice-cream dripping down her hands she was about to get a baby wipe to clean it off when Bernie gentle holds her wrist and proceeds to do it for her, her eyes fall shut as Bernie looks at her, swipes her tongue over her palm and hums, then takes three fingers in her mouth before letting go with a pop. Thankfully the kids are all enjoying their ice-creams to notice, however Raf and Fletch do and just smile to themselves.

The afternoon is filled with making a kingdom out of sand. They all have their areas to build their town on, Bernie digging waterways to separate them, Fletch building bridges with crayons, Serena helping to make the flags for the children to colour in and Raf fetching the water that is needed to keep the sand wet enough to use. Once each town is built they go and get some shells to decorate and rocks to use as mountains, when they get what they need, they work together to make their kingdom. With the last of the water, Raf puts it in the waterways; they enjoy watching as some of it flows around each town and some soak into the sand. 

The final activity of the day was to bury the dads. Raf and Fletch seem to have nodded off, Bernie gets the children to pile up a load of sand. When they have enough they start to bury them, there was one instruction, no sand on their faces. Fletch was thigh high covered in sand before he woke up and Raf was waist high. Serena loved to take photos throughout the day but the startled face of Raf as he couldn’t move his legs was going to be one of her favourites for a long time. When allowed the lads rinsed off in the sea while the ladies got the mini bus packed, the children do a sweep to pick up litter, even some that isn’t there own. Once all ready they get in the mini bus, head to the lodge, shower and get changed ready for the restaurant. Carvery’s all around, a further ice-cream each and then off to the amusement park. By 9pm all of the children were again exhausted and ready for bed, as promised lights out wasn’t until 9.30 but they were all fast asleep with the books fallen away.

Tonight the cards are out for the adults, time to wind down before they head to bed. Fletch tries to wind Bernie up again, but Serena rebuffs make even Fletch squirm. “Ah Bernie, I see you enjoy sucking earlier, the ice-cream I mean…….nice to see some things go down your throat nice and easily.” “Well you should know Fletch, I seem to remember that you enjoy a good stiff lollipop and not of the sweet variety, but there is always something creamy that ends up in your mouth by the end of it.” Bernie couldn’t help but laugh, in fact they all were laughing, a proper belly laugh, tears in their eyes and gasping for breath. No one would be able to retort to that, not even after the fact. A suggestion of strip poker was made, they all agreed that tonight wasn’t the night for that, but could happen in the next few days. At nearly 11pm they all went to bed, a text was sent and this time Serena went to collect it in her satin nightie that Bernie loves to see her in. The baster is filled and then part-filled, nothing more than heavy petting tonight, more like sensuous touching as they were both exhausted. Tomorrow they hoped it would be different.


	45. Monday of the holiday.

As early as the morning birds the toddlers decided that everyone must wake with the morning chorus of birds. The sun has just risen beyond the horizon and the waves can be heard crashing against the rocks on the sea front. There has been a little rain overnight which can be seen by the quick flow of the stream below their cabin and the wetness of the grass, none of that really mattered as it was dry now and a day of sunshine was forecasted for the day and even the week ahead. 

Bernie noticed they were very little basic supplies left and they would probably need some to make a packed lunch so offered very quickly to nip into town to the Asda to get what they needed while everyone got washed and dressed for the day ahead.   
Serena made a list and texted it to her so she would receive it when she got there. There was only one problem with this theory, when Bernie arrived at the supermarket she had no signal at all. Walking through a very narrow side street holding her phone high in the air as to get the signal needed, she spotted an adults store that was open 24 hours. Inquisitive as ever she nipped in, that and they had free wifi, upon browsing she found a rather playful thing, making the purchase she thanks the cashier as she exits the shop feeling her mobile buzzing with the shopping list in her back pocket, so she made her way back to the supermarket to get what was on the list then back to her family.

All dressed with yesterdays clothes on and crocs on their feet they headed for a paddle in the stream to burn off some early morning energy before they had breakfast. Serena and Bernie have hold of Ella by the hand while Fletch and Raf have Theo by the double reigns so he can run around like his siblings and friends, Raf wishing they had an extendable dog lead to put him on, when he gets to far they could press a button and he can go no further, press another button and he is flung back to them. 

Jason loves to spot the wildlife, he had his bucket and net trying to catch all sorts of wildlife, his bucket is see-through for just this purpose. He fills the bucket adds a few rocks and dips the net in only pulling it out briefly when he has caught a bug or water creature. In his go bag he has a small tub, on its lid it has a magnifying glass so he can look at the creatures that he places in the tub a little closer. This tub is about the size of an adults palm, it is water tight and is made so the animals cannot escape without him unscrewing the lid. The only downside is that it is airtight so he can only have a brief look; so armed with his notepad that was also in his bag he went off looking, thankful for the all weather crocs on his feet.

Charlotte, Cam, Mikey and Evie are just casually walking up and down the stream, only going as far as the bridge that leads to the sea. They cannot go any further without going up on the Bankside and down the rocks to the beach. They can feel the waves hit the other side and push the fresh water back upstream, it sends them off balance a few times but they are grateful to have each other to hold onto. Ella and Theo are loving the early morning dip, enjoying splashing around getting the adults suitably wet while they are at it, not that they mind at all, it was yesterdays clothes they had on after all and were dirty after the day at the beach.   
They discussed what they wanted to do today, a suggestion of a walk around the town before heading to the nearby fun park. With the decision made they headed back inside not before they all stopped to see what Jason had collected.

Jason stood proudly with his collection of wildlife. He was studying a water boatman that was happily swimming on its back around the edges of the tub, Cam laughed as he said it was doing the breast stroke upside down, they all had a bet to see if they can do it when they next go swimming. The adults putting a slight damper saying it wasn’t going to be today.   
In his bucket though was a newt and few wiggles, Serena was sure he made up that name but Jason proved himself right when he googled it, Serena nearly having a heart attack as he stood there with his phone in his hand in the middle of the stream. She did apologise, knowing that after all his knowledge in these matters are far superior after all of the studying he has done. He marked off the dragonfly again, a common butterfly and 3 mayflies but couldn’t guarantee that it wasn’t the same one buzzing around. When they were about to leave he gently lowered them all back into the water before heading back upstream to the cabin.

Breakfast as always was toast and cereal, juice for the children and coffees for the adults, they all knew coffee was a staple just to get them going for the day ahead. Cheers and excitement all around when Bernie lets it slip where they are going today. Raf is sure he has never seen the children get washed and dressed again so quickly before. It takes a while to co-ordinate, get packed lunches ready and bottles filled with juice or water before they are off. Bernie this time allowing Fletch to drive, Raf is up front Evie is with the toddlers and Bernie and Serena are snogging on the back seats much to the disgust of the children. In the end Serena puts up todays newspaper to hide themselves before resuming kissing.

When they arrive at the park, Raf has to get out to request that the barrier is lifted a little more as the height restriction prevents them from entering and is holding up a rather large queue behind them, the security guards use their ‘man power’ and strength to lift it up higher to let them in, Jason stating loudly to them how unfit they are, earning a groan of embarrassment from Serena and mouthing an apology through the widow, she has a feeling she could be apologising a lot today. Tickets brought, maps in hand Bernie and Serena go off with both of the toddlers while Raf and Fletch take the others for a morning around the park.

Theo squeals at the sight of the swings so they head there, buggies pushed to the parking area they seat them in the toddler swings. They start off trying to swing them in tandem which comes undone very quickly as the toddlers weights differ so trying to push one handed while holding each others hand became difficult. 

The ease that they felt pushing the swing with a toddler got them talking to what if……what if they don’t get pregnant? What if they do? Would they like a boy or a girl? What if there was anything wrong with the little mite? They had discussed the complications with becoming a mother later on and the fact that there is a higher miscarriage rate and as they are both nearly 40 the chance has increased to 1 in 100 chance of having a child with downs syndrome. The facts were startling but well worth it they both agreed, they would take all of the tests to give them as much of the facts as they could, forearmed and fore warned etc……. 

They briefly discussed names, both agreeing that Star or Teddy was going to be an option, they wanted to keep the theme of older style names going which in fairness was in trend now. Grace was mentioned for a girl and Adam for a boy, Serena screwed her face up at Adam, something with that name didn’t sit right, Adam Wolfe……..Adrian Wolfe…….Alex Wolfe….. “Absolutely not Alex!” Bernie firmly said, Serena apologising once again for the slip of the tongue. ‘There another apology said’ she internally berated herself for. Bernie could see the inner turmoil going through her partners mind and quickly eased it with a hug before taking the toddlers over to the climbing frame. 

The climbing frame was great, it was all made out of wood or metal; bits of netting between the slides and the could crawl or walk to wherever they wanted to go. There was even tumble mats if they wanted to jump off, Theo flew himself off and rolled into the bark, Bernie honking with laughter as she tries to get the stuck in bark off his t-shirt, Ella meanwhile was more sedate, happy to go up and down the slide several dozen times. 

Raf is sitting at the edge of a rather large sponge pit, he and the children have been on a trail of trampolines, bouncing over obstacles, through them and trying to bounce and duck while Fletch is throwing a rather large padded boulder at him, sending him flying out of the course into the sponge pit…..there was only one small issue of being flung in the said sponge pit. That is that being 5ft nothing and the wall to get over to get out is almost that height in itself, plain and simple he was stuck. Fletch had to come running down, lean over and yank him up by the lapels of his jeans, giving him a rather impressive wedgie at the same time. Subsequently Raf is now lying half dead at the edge while the kids run around having another go, taking big gulps of their drinks in the process.  
Cam and Mikey fly around, being very nimble, Charlotte and Evie take their time and Jason goes around analysing and strategising the best and most effective way to get around without falling off. On the last time around before lunch they all get timed and Jason’s studying has paid off, he beats them all, Evie comes second, Cam third, Mikey fourth and Charlotte last but she really didn’t care, she was just happy that she beat her Uncle Raf. Now all hot and sweaty they headed to the picnic area to meet with Bernie and Serena hoping that the toddlers didn’t wear them out too much.

Lunch was great, it was good to sit under a canopy at a table which kept Jason happy; the place even supplied high chairs so the toddlers were able to eat without being held down or on one of the adults laps. It was great to sit all together once again, they really were one big happy dysfunctional family. In some respects they get on better all being together, the toddlers having an extra adult each and the youngsters keeping each other happy, Evie gets to have to some girly time with Charlotte and the Ladies while Jason and Cam have good role models in the lads. Charlottes slip up of Uncle Raf threw him a bit, he had a quiet word with them both but they seemed un-phased by it, in the end he wore it like a badge of honour, happy that he got called it first and gave Fletch a little ribbing by it. 

The afternoon started with a trail walk and a boat ride through the mini amazon, the toddlers loved seeing the animated wild animals. Bernie was happily making a fool of herself as she imitated an elephant by using her arm as a trunk only for Cam to say she needs to stick to laughing like a donkey instead; which earned him playful smack to the back of the head. A tiger roared and made Ella cry and cling on to Serena even tighter only to be laughing several seconds later by a monkey squirting them all with water. Jason managed to duck the incoming water spurt but that meant it hit Cam straight in the face which made the toddler laugh even more; with a quick wipe to his face he flicked a little to the toddler who squinted and resumed squealing in delight.

They spent several more hours before heading back to the campsite, deciding that they didn’t want to cook so they headed for the pizza place next to the amusement arcade. The kids spent their daily allowance while the adults waited patiently for the pizza just outside of the bar area, the toddlers were falling asleep rapidly so they had nuggets and chips from the fish and chip shop.   
Fletch and Raf decided to grab a quick beer and brought back a g&t for the ladies stating they had no shiraz in the bar and didn’t dare to try the house red without them looking first. It was great to sit and unwind while knowing the children were safe, as the pizza’s weren’t yet done Bernie handed them an extra two pounds each for them to do whatever they wanted with, on strict instructions to return when they get a text. Glasses clinked they waited. 

Bernie begged off to go to the toilet; as she walked back there was a machine with teddies in holding a heart, all with different messages written on them. Right near the edge was a grey teddy with the inscription ‘I give you my heart’ on it, she couldn’t help having a go. It was 5 goes for a pound so she places her pound in the allotted slot, press the up and down button to get the grabber in place, then the left and right until it is hovering over it, a quick tap to the centre button and she watches as the grabber knocks it down the chute. ‘Winner’ she says to herself, proudly giving herself a pat on the back but what was she to do with the next 4 goes. She plays of course. The second go a teddy is picked up and dropped closer to the chute, the third was a miss all together, the fourth again picked up and dropped but then the last go, the teddy that says ‘for eternity’ on it was the one that she wanted. One last go she placed the grabber over the teddy, down the claw goes, it picks it up, Bernie’s fingers are tightly crossed but is disappointed when it is dropped a few centimetres away from her goal. 

Not one to be defeated another pound is inserted. She is very determined to get it, the kids after receiving a text and on their way back all crowded around begging to have a go for her. Jason first and he misses, Mikey next, Cam then Charlotte, the last go is on her, this time she uses all the time allotted to get it just perfect, the grabber goes down, it is picked up once again, the grabber lets go and the teddy tumbles, hits the side and falls down the chute to “a winner” blazing loudly and the children clapping.

Bernie returns with the teddies hidden behind her back and the biggest smile on her face. Serena instantly notices that she is hiding something, never one to hold out too long Bernie hands over the 1st teddy - the one that says ‘I give you my heart’ on it and Serena melts. It is the first time that someone has won something just for her and when the second teddy was handed over she ends up in tears of happiness. ‘You wait all your life for a teddy and then 2 come at once with significant words on them’ Serena thinks. Bernie will be well rewarded later and she tells her so with a low predatory growl.

Pizza collected they head to the cabin, Raf and Serena complain about the pineapple on the top of one of the pizza and Bernie and Fletch moan about the anchovies that the kids ordered. Fletch over-dramatically picks one off and throws it to Mikey who catches it in his mouth “you will make a great seal there Mikey,” Fletch laughed as he threw another but it landed on his forehead this time. The kids have a quick shower each while the toddlers have a bath in the kitchen sink. The adults wait until the rug rats are all asleep before they get their collective showers; dishes done, wine opened they all say goodnight to the children with the promise to have light out in half an hour. When Raf went to check on them all after 15 minutes they were all fast asleep, books and comics discarded; he places the book marker in each of them before closing the door and returning to his husband and friends.

“They are all flat out and that is no surprise,” Raf says as he takes his beer from Fletch almost sitting on his knee, his hand automatically going to high on his thigh. Fletch smiles and gives him a kiss in return, not wanting to miss out Bernie turns to Serena and lifts her chin slightly from where her head was on her upper chest, Serena stretches and complies making Bernie lean back on the sofa. They are all kissing now, moans and gasps making the room feel electric. Serena and Bernie without parting their lips or bodies head to the large ensuite shower first; they have often shared the shower space but this feels rather different, any means or screams would be heard by the gentlemen next door not that they are paying much attention, as their t-shirts are now on the back of the chairs and zips of their shorts lowered.

Bernie takes great pleasure in stripping Serena usually but this time sends her straight into the shower with her white t-shirt on that quickly goes see-through. Serena thanks the heavens that she managed to take her shorts off, just about, but that thought is swiftly taken away by Bernie pushing her into the wall with one of the most passionate kisses she has ever received and Bernie isn’t actually touching her with her hands at all. They are at either side of Serena’s head, allowing her partners full body to keep her upright, Bernie’s hands lower until she reaches the wrists of her lover who then is stretched up high, being told to hold onto the shower head as her fingers are being wrapped around it. 

The t-shirt has rides higher with her doing this, the edge of the garment is now almost below her bra clad breasts; the lacy bra is quite clear to see through the sodden t-shirt and Bernie places her teeth right on the protruding stiff nipple making Serena moan deeply, rather loudly. Bernie’s movements are there to tease, she too is in her t-shirt but is lucky that she doesn’t need a bra underneath as her pert breasts are just wonderful without one, Serena’s eyes when open cannot stay away from them, wanting to get her own mouth around them but she is doing exactly what is asked of her.

As Bernie’s nails reach the apex of her thighs Serena hands slip and grip onto Bernie’s shoulders, her legs wobble and a beg is made as Serena can no longer weight bare on them, she is carefully lowered onto her knees, facing the wall, her hair and face being covered in the sprinkle of water from the shower head. Bernie leaves just for a second, reaches for something under the pile of towels, Serena almost cums when she sees what it is, yes you have guessed it, it is the strap on. The belts are tightened and gently pushed into place, Bernie waits for Serena to give the signal she is ready, they both know hard and fast is what she wants, they want and needs. Serena nods, looks behind and watches as Bernie starts a hard and fast rhythm; another nod is given so Bernie speeds up, no longer nice controlled thrusts now she is going hell for leather as hard as she can, grabbing a fist full of hair she pulls arching Serena back having to use her hands to climb up the wall to steady herself, a litany of expletives come out and not quiet neither, she cums and cums until Bernie can no longer continue mainly due to the rough tiles on her knees as she slips. They quickly wash and rinse off amongst kisses and head straight to their bedroom allowing the lads to enjoy their own time in there.

The lads take the pot in with them, hoping that a little fun will help them along and it does, the pot is swiftly filled and placed on the side, Bernie gets up to collect. This time there is no turkey baster, she got her earlier purchase, a strapless dildo for them to use - if you remember her jaunt to the supermarket and taking a walk into a shop. Both of them had talked about using one but never got around to buying one, until today when Bernie found one in the adult shop. At home they did do quite a bit of research when looking into the toy, all toys online.   
This toy means the wearer could ejaculate like a man if the wearer, Bernie in this instance comes hard enough to squeeze the fluids out. So Bernie carefully fills the dildo up, places the rest of the tub under the pillows to keep it warm as there was quite a bit left and she used it to make love to Serena. Bernie’s need to come was great, the insistent buzzing of the dildo and the clashing of their clits meant she didn’t last long at all and when she did cum Serena felt the liquid fill her nice and deeply. 

Once they came down from their prospective orgasms Serena fills the dildo once more and inserts the wearers end in her, stating she wants to know what it feels like to do it, to make cum squirt out of her body like a man. Bernie laughs and lets her play, neither of them considering what could happen. 

Serena gets Bernie to stand with her hands on her knees, legs slightly bent and arse out. When the dildo placed deep in she gets her to steadily stand up straighter so their bodies are flushed together, skin on skin, Bernie’s arm reaching up around Serena’s neck and one down to her hip. Serena hold Bernie’s throat with a slight grip, the other is toying at her clit, slowly circling as she gently rocks the dildo in and out. 

 

They never make love the same way over and over, both had boring ex-husbands and lovers previously so they spend due care to explore and give each other what they want or desire. This was whispered to Serena one night, a request by her fiancé, she just needed to wait for the right time to do it for her. 

Bernie wobbles, her legs are weak from earlier, so Serena walks her over to the wall, pushes her flush against it all while keeping their hands in place, keeping the thrusts slow and gentle. Somehow they both cum in tandem, Serena hitching her hips as she does so, to get the dildo deep as she can while her internal muscles grip her end tight, almost pulsating. When she is spent the dido drops to the floor with a thud not that either of them care, they wait until both can stumble onto the bed. Bernie hangs over the side of the bed to pick it up, hides it until she can get to clean it out properly when she can walk again. They tumble further into bed, kisses feather light until the fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> am I boring you with the holiday?


	46. Tuesday - The holiday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well another day on holiday. A horse ride and swimming is in store today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I will try and be more consistent when posting chapters. I hope you enjoy x

Bernie woke first, carefully extracted herself from the arms of her fiancé and headed straight for a shower, not before she placed the kettle on knowing that the children were soon going to rise and shortly after her. 9.30 am was rather a late get up time for all of them, including the toddlers who had nearly 14 hours sleep and in no doubt will wake up raring to go.

Bernie has her head back, enjoying the full force of the shower on her face; her mind flitted back to yesterday and her spur of the moment purchase. Yes they had used sex toys before, to some extent they had become a regular feature as and when they needed it a little rougher or harder. But this, the strapless dildo that could ejaculate was rather a good idea, one that they had spent many of a night wonder wether to make the purchase just like that or just an ordinary strapless one. It was when she was in the shop casually browsing when she saw it, she did wonder wether to wait or not, discuss it with her partner but glad she didn’t wait though because it made the job of insemination more enjoyable, playful if you get what I mean. The use of a turkey baster did seem quite odd but did do the trick pretty mess free. Then there were the other toys on display, some of which she had no clue to how use, vowing to look into it more when in the safety of their own home via the usual sex toy websites.  
Getting aroused again she turned down the temperature of the shower, she knows that her legs won’t stand anymore today, well while it is daytime anyway, she needs the night for her tired limbs to recover. She lathers up and washes the suds away; once she is soap free she switches off the shower, heads back with a towel wrapped tightly around her body and one on her head to make the coffee for the adults and juice for the kids.

Serena stirs immediately after Bernie walks back into the bedroom, the slight creek of the door signalling her entry. Lying on her side she enjoys the sight of Bernie drying and redressing again, scrunching the curls back into place before a quick waft of the hair dryer to finish off with. For most they maintain eye contact; there is one thing to be attracted to a person there is another to be completely besotted with them, scars and all. When she is finished Bernie leans back on the stool and quietly stares back at Serena in a mocking but sultry stare, she slowly smirks and with one quick tug the duvet is flung off and it uncovers a very naked Serena. Serena continues to stare her fiancé down, rolls on her back and spreads out wide, her limbs trying to touch the corners of the bed like a star fish. It is unusual but Bernie is the first to break eye contact, raking her eyes down Serena’s body, lingering on her favourite curvaceous bits. She goes to move towards the woman in the bed but decides against it when there is a knock on the bedroom door and Jason wishing them a good morning asking if he can have his breakfast.

Today they were going horse riding, Jason still adamant that he won’t get on one but is very happy to walk with one of the stable boys holding on to Ella’s miniature pony as they trek along the beach. Jason tells Ella and his two mums that he will keep the toddler very safe and will not leave her side at all, unless the pony runs too fast but the stable boy confirms it will be a gentle stroll to and around the beach.  
Fletch and Raf enjoy following the trail and horses, taking many a picture while Serena and Bernie head into town as Serena wants to look into the small bakery that does artisan breads, promising to pick them all a sweet treat up as well.

Raf and Fletch stay with Theo, the more boisterous of the toddlers, Ella seems settled in her little saddle, Jason on one side and the stable lad now known as Paul on the other. Theo thinks he is a jockey in training, bouncing up and down on the poor miniature ponies back. The more they tell him to stop the more he seems to do it and Raf especially is losing his patience, the owner turns and tells them not to worry as long as he isn’t physically jumping then the horse is used to it.   
Charlotte is so excited, she gets a big horse just like her brother and friends, her light tan pony is called ‘Engelbert Humperdinck’, his golden main reminds her of her mums hair before she had it cut short. Mikey’s horse was ‘Tom Jones’, a grey and white horse, Evie’s was ‘Sir Cliff’ a black shiny coated horse who loved to try and trot a little faster than he is allowed so the owner had a tight reign on him. Ella’s and Theo’s was ‘Sonny and Cher’. Fletch, Raf and the owner ‘Cilla’ had a good chat about how the horses were to be named, stating that she loved the old style music so names them after her favourite singers, that and it did go with her own name, she was after all named after Miss Cilla Black, she was born on the day that she released ‘Alfie’ back in 1966. 

When they got to the beach the horses walked through the water, Cilla blew up a beach ball and allowed the horses to play with it, telling the children the way to steer them. Cam loved playing horse football as he called it, the horses using their hooves and noses to move the ball. Raf and Fletch laughed as Theo tried ti catch the ball as the wind blew it in the air only for Evie’s horse to head it away.  
Once they got bored Cilla mounted Englebert Humperdinck with Charlotte on, held onto her tightly and got the horse to sprint through the waves, up and down the full length of the small beach. Although Charlotte was quite scared at the beginning she enjoyed it as soon as she relaxed, Charlotte held on tightly to the reigns and enjoyed the fast pace once Cilla handed them back to her. When she got back to the others her face was bright red, she hugged Cilla tightly and thanked her for the best day of her life.   
Evie was the only other one who wanted a go, so with a little rearranging for the eldest child she set off; Raf played the theme to black beauty as she returned which made the teenager laugh even more. Evie and Charlotte have just got into reading Black Beauty together at night, using Serena’s book from her own childhood. When their time was up they took a steady walk back, had a quick drink, fed the horses a few polo mints (who knew) and they were ready to go.

 

Bernie and Serena walked hand in hand down the high street after parking on the main carpark in the centre of town, as they slowly walked up the main street, Serena spotted a dress in the window of a charity shop. It was a deep red dress, more like an evening gown, one like she had never seen before and she fell instantly in love with it. It was long sleeved and had a plunging neckline, as her eyes drifted lower she could see the rather large slit that goes right up to the high thigh area on the very flowy skirt. Bernie watched as Serena tried to walk away from the shop window, unable to speak she trailed her finger over the neckline on the window. It wasn’t exactly what she wanted in a wedding dress, it was far better in an unconventional way. Bernie quietly took her inside, spoke to one of the volunteers who took the dress off the manikin and hung it up in the changing room ready for her to try on. 

Now ushered in to the changing room Serena’s hands were shaking, she never thought that a dress like this would look good on her but she just had to try it, even if it was to satisfy her own curiosity that it wouldn’t look good, her larger curvy figure would be completely wrong for the dress she was sure of it. Bernie sat nervously outside the curtain, waited patiently for what seemed like hours as Serena lifted the dress on over her head, her shaking hands pulled at the sleeves so that they were past her watch and bracelets, she smothered down the front to fit in the right place and adjusted her breasts as she couldn’t wear a bra in it, thanks to the plunging neckline. She very lightly raked her fingers over the waist, how it pulled her in so her waist looked tiny and showed off her curves that Bernie loves, it wasn’t tight neither. There was only one issue, it was rather long, about 3 inches too long. After declaring this to Bernie, who instantly rose to get a pair of golden glittery high heeled shoes with a matching snatch bag, she passed it under the curtain so she doesn’t get a glimpse of the dress until Serena is ready to unveil it all, knowing that she loves to make an entrance, or exit on this case. 

As she goes back to sit down, Serena flings the curtains back with a nervous smile, Bernie hovers mid sitting and collapses into the bucket chair when her legs give way. Serena’s smile goes from nervous to wide when she sees that she has turned her wife to be into a jabbering wreck. “Uh, S…….re…..” Cough “fuck!” Everyone in the shop turned around, there was a wolf whistle from someone in there but from who, no one could say. “I take it you approve…..my only worry is that it isn’t a traditional wedding dress.” Bernie gets up on Bambi like legs and holds both of Serena’s hands gently, “Serena…….” She takes a few seconds to try and form a coherent sentence. “You look wonderful, so stunning and sexy, it doesn’t have to be a traditional dress if you love this one, I want you to feel good in it and trust me you look good. More than good…….god you look bloody amazing!” Serena let out a rather big sigh in relief, a small nod of the head she goes back inside to get changed, there was no way she was leaving this dress behind. She didn’t need to try on anymore dresses, she saw the look in Bernie’s eyes and that was enough. So the bargain buy made, including the shoes and a clutch bag to match and off they went to the bakery.

The bakery had every type of bread you could name. They grabbed some soda bread for their lunch that would go nicely with soup and sandwiches, batons for making fresh garlic bread, croissants and cinnamon rolls for their breakfasts in the morning and a balsamic onion, tomato and basil, three cheese and rosemary focaccia to go with the pasta dish they had planned. To top all that off there was a tray of brownies, when Bernie asked for the whole tray surprising the baker, she was given the one that had not been cut into but now that has just come out of the oven.   
After getting all that they wanted, Serena went to pay for the goodies when she spotted a ringed bread called ‘simit’. It was a Turkish breakfast bread that she loved when visiting the country. She had spent many a day going from bakery to bakery trying out the different flavours, this one here was just a sesame seed one but that didn’t matter to her, so she asked for that to be added too. Final purchase made, they left the shop just as Bernie’s phone pinged saying the children and lads were ready to be collected. Time for more shopping another day.

Back at the lodge, the soup, sandwiches with the various types of bread went down well. The promise of brownies were for later, after swimming if they so wished. What a daft that question was as the adults were all left with clearing the table and washing the dishes while the youngsters ran off to get their swimming gear on. Bernie mentioned while arm deep in the washing up bowl that Serena had brought her wedding dress earlier while they were in town, going into great detail how it set off all of her assets perfectly causing Fletch to give another wolf whistle. “No peeking until the day though, not even the girls will get to see until the day.” Serena playfully admonished. They asked Bernie about her dress but as of yet she hadn’t seen anything that she loved, so they were planning a trip out one evening to go and try some styles on.

The children were all ready to go, Charlotte had got the toddlers ready too with Evie so they could spend as much time as they could in the pool. Serena and Bernie took them while Raf and Fletch prepared the tea and would join them afterwards, hoping for a little alone time themselves. Having the toddlers together seemed to be a handful even if placed in the pen while they were sorting themselves out, the high pitched squeals of excitement could be heard all throughout the park, never mind the swimming complex itself. But when undressed and ready, all items placed in the lockers they headed to the ordinary swimming pool to meet the others. The older children were already having mini races, trying the back breast stroke just like the water boatman that Jason found yesterday; Evie just was so uncoordinated she kept going around in circles and laughing hard so she gave up. Jason couldn’t do it neither but Mikey and Cameron were flying from one side to the other side, Serena declaring them joint winners as she watched the last leg of the race. With that they enjoyed their time in the pool until the siren went for the waves to start in the other walk in pool. 

Serena and Bernie watched as they bounced up and down with each wave, they managed to play a game with the toddlers, jumping the waves in the shallow end, Theo ending up on his back trying to do the ‘water boatman’ and enjoying the waves splashing up his body. Shortly after Raf and Fletch joined them, taking them all to the outside lazy pool, a toddler on each of the lads laps off they went. Serena held out her hand for Bernie to take as they drifted along, playfully splashing the others as they tried to get past, even Jason enjoyed just lounging in the ring until it came to the waterfall when he tried to get out and ended up falling in, he walked his ring under the waterfall while he dodged it by skimming through at the edges before going back on and finishing the course. 

After a few rounds the older children went on the snake slides, enjoying the freedom that comes with being in a safe environment, that was until a older teenager thought he could barge past Charlotte sending her flying and nearly falling back down the steps. Mikey immediately approached the young lad who towered over him and tried to get him to apologise to his friend but the teenager swore loudly. This caught the lifeguards attention, he stopped all of the flumes from running until he sorted out the argument that was quickly escalating. The teenager swung his hand, aiming for Mikey when Jason pulled him back, grabbed his wrist and pulled it hight up his back until the teenager was almost crying on the floor, begging for him to let go, apologising profusely for what he had done. Upon seeing what the teenager was about to do the lifeguard called for security to take him back downstairs and escort him out of the swimming arena, taking him to speak to his parents who had a warning that if her did anything like that again then they all will be thrown off the park. Meanwhile the lifeguard walked a shaken Charlotte back to her mums, explained what had happened and reassured them that the boys and Evie was ok too. Evie quickly returned after deciding not wanting to go on the slide, went to sit next to Evie who had an icepack on her bruising knee. Raf was sure that it would just be a bruise, sent the rest to get dressed, it was nearly closing time after all. As they were leaving, the pool manager stopped them and apologised for what had happened. They were all in disbelief as it wasn’t their fault that a child had behaved badly however they did welcome a free activity for them all to do; they look at the schedule and picked out something that they all could do together, archery. So it was booked, tomorrow they were doing archery and then going to the roller disco in the late evening. Serena promising to sit and watch with the toddlers from afar, “I don’t think so, I need someone to chase around……..so we will take it in turns to watch the toddlers”, that was until they found out that they had trikes to go around in, instead of skates. Then Serena had no excuse, she was to be donning on a set of roller skates and hoping that she wasn’t going to go arse over tit and end up in plaster for her wedding day! Secretly knowing how good she used to be on them.

The adults went back to the cabin with the toddlers while the others went and played at the park until their tea was done, burning off a little more excess energy. The toddlers were happily playing with the duplo and sticky bricks as the tuna pasta bake was placed in the oven to cook, Serena made the garlic bread while Bernie made the salad. The gents taking the opportunity to have five as they all chat about the wedding plans, or lack of them…..they offer to help which the ladies gratefully accept with a knowing smile, yes there were no real plans set in stone just the date and now Serena’s dress; they lads have their outfits ordered and the girls need to go and try the ones that they likes on but that is it. They had talked about doing their own catering but as to what they didn’t confirm.   
Serena was very happy that she had got an email confirmation that the sale of her house went through ok, she just needed to move the rest of her belongings out asap and hand they keys over. Raf and Fletch offered to drive the van and move the stuff. It was decided that Serena will stay at the new home while Bernie will go and help them move the bedroom furniture mainly and the stuff from her own home. 

Things were finally looking up for them both.

The children came back after Raf sent a text saying tea was ready. They all sat around the table talking about what they loved to do still while they were here, on holiday. Jason wanted to go to the beach again to do some more animal hunting and crabbing, Charlotte wanted a game of mini golf, Evie wanted a go on the zip lines and high ropes, Mikey and Cam wants to have a day at the football academy that they have on site. 

None of these seemed too much to ask but with just a few days left they all couldn’t be done, so they compromised. Mikey and Cam were going to go to the football camp in May where they get to spend a few days away from their parents and do all things football. That they didn’t mind, but did ask if they can go on the high ropes with Evie; as that was only an hour max, they said they can do that and then go to the beach where there is a harbour too to do some crabbing, but will have to look at the tide times.   
Thats two things down.  
They could all go crazy golfing tomorrow morning before they go and do archery and rollerskating, that will also leave some time to do a bit more essential shopping and go to the park or hire the go karts out if they wanted. The boys on Friday could go to play football though if they wanted to, but Thursday was already planned, not that the children had any idea what the were going to do as it was top secret. Just that it is a full day away from the park and to take a spare pair of clothes.

Tea eaten, plates and things washed up by the children after their earlier quick escape they headed to spend the evening at the social club house. All of the children really enjoyed it, there was a puppet show which the toddlers loved sitting with the older children right in front of the stage watching the entertainers, they didn’t move at all while the whole show was on. Then they joined in with the dancing too, copying the actions of the dancers, singing the camp songs.   
Jason didn’t join in too much with the dancing but did really well at the children’s quiz and won a prize for being one of the top scorers. At the end of the session there was a chance to have photo’s taken with the characters and entertainers, the toddlers bounded up and nearly pushed in front of all the other waiting children until Bernie got hold of Theo, promising if he came with her to the back of the line, he could have his picture taken. Taking her hand he ran to the back of the line and waited patiently. The picture that was taken made Raf and Fletch laugh, he gave the pink elephant, his favourite character, a big kiss on his trunk, his eyes were shut tightly, scrunched up tightly, while Ella held hands with the giant bear, her eyes were focused on her as she knelt down besides the adorning toddler. Photos done, kids entertainment over they left to go to the amusement arcade before the bingo started.

Bernie and Cam were having a race on a Mario Bro’s go kart game, Jason shouting out pointers to help her win, while Charlotte was helping her brother, in the end the race was close, Bernie came 15th place and Cam came 7th. He spent the next few minutes placing the loser sign to his forehead when looking at his mum, her promising to whip his backside tomorrow at archery.   
Jason played on the more strategic games, he placed his pound in the hole lined up the plunger and hoped for the best, he had been after this iPod since he first arrived to no avail, tonight though he felt was his lucky night but it wasn’t to be, he vowed to win one before his holiday was over.  
At the 2 pence machines they were all lined up together, seeing who could win the most, today it was Serena and Ella, they managed to get a magnet, 2 chewy sweet things that the toddler was definitely not going to get, and 92 pence back in winnings. The toddlers were getting tired and could no longer walk any further, so Theo on the shoulders of Cam and Ella on the shoulders of Evie they took a slow walk back to the cabin for a game of Uno before bedtime.

It has been a while since Serena played Uno, sitting with Bernie for the first few hands until she remembered the rules. For one night only they were allowed to bet, don’t worry there was not betting with money. The minty match sticks are shared out (3 boxes) and they were off. Bernie was off to a great start until Evie made her pick up nearly 12 with all the +2’s put down, then Cam was winning as he had only a few cards left. He won a fair whack of the match sticks until Jason caught on to how they were all playing. His mind, somehow memorising the cards and how they all play, he strategically plays his cards. In the end he is winning by a mile, not that any of them mind when he again hands out the match sticks equally to enjoy with their hot chocolate. They save some for tomorrow and head to bed, Charlotte and Evie read some more 'Black Beauty’ and the boys carry on with the ‘Twits’.

The adults take the advantage of using the hot tub, enjoying the relaxing bubbles; the warm clear night and the excellent company to relax in. The wine flowed and the almost silent stirring of the night quickly over come them all, tonight they decided to take a break from trying to conceive unless the lads felt the could but there was no expectancy on their behalf. However after nearly half an hour in their own rooms a text came through, ok so it wasn’t a full pot of semen but it was enough to take care of some slow and sensuous lovemaking. Yes ok the turkey baster did come out again but only because the strapless dildo wouldn’t have been ‘in keeping’ with their night.

Serena undressed Bernie slowly, kissed every bit of skin as it became unclothed, spending plenty of time on Bernie’s neck and collar bones, a place she loves to think about when watching her lover. Short nails only just digging in to the skin, not enough to leave marks but enough to make the blonde shiver. Now laid down, kisses come upwards, bodies turned around and on their sides as they buried their faces between each others legs. Taking their time to lick, suck and nibble, rocking on each others faces to bring them to a gentle climax, several times.   
When Bernie enters with the pot, she fills the baster, places it deep in the brunette and squeezes it gently a few times, making sure it is empty before pulling it out. Bernie wraps Serena’s legs around her waist as she grinds slowly and precisely, faces joined, breaths mingle and again the gently climax. Serena chases a kiss as Bernie lays next to her, falling asleep, noses touching and that is how they wake up on the Wednesday morning.


	47. Wednesday of their holiday.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Half way through the holiday.

After not seeing their alarms, another late get up which was really unwelcome as they had lots planned today. Fair enough it was all pretty much on the site but they were on a tight schedule to get it all done.   
Raf got everyone up, placed the kettle on and got everything out for breakfast. No one could believe it was already 10am. 

Breakfasts quickly eaten, all washed and teeth brushed with military efficiency which meant that they were all excitedly stood outside the high ropes booking office waiting to have a go. There was a small issue, Cam and Charlotte were too small and could only have a go of the low ropes. Evie didn’t mind do that but Mikey wasn’t happy, Raf promised him a game of football in the park if he swapped to the low ropes with everyone else, he soon backed down when he actually saw a young girl fling herself off the leap of death, the instructor stating that is the last bit of the course and it is the only way down. “There is no way in hell I am doing that!” He says and dons on his hard hat to do the low ropes and quickly made a start. Serena was in stitches until Bernie asked her if she wanted a go, then that faux angry stare made Bernie giggle.   
Together they sat on the bench just at the other end of the course, surrounded by bluebells and daisies, enjoying the peace while taking photo’s of the large beam that swings from one area to the next but a little pulling effort by the user is required to get it going. The lads managed ok and so did Evie but Charlotte had trouble pulling her own weight and the rather hefty beam so Fletch pushed her nearly sending her flying when she bounced off the wood at the other end. Laughing “again, again” as she swung back to the start. Fletch pushed her a few more times until the next person needed to get on it.

The part of the course is about teamwork. In pairs they need to get one of their team members from the 1st log to the 2nd all without their feet touching the floor. Your team mate needs to move the wooden pegs from one pole to the next so you can go along them. But the catch is one some of the poles that are given fit correctly in the holes provided.  
Raf and Fletch rope in the toddlers who found it even more funny to try and bash each other over the head with the wooden poles while they were waiting for their siblings and friends to arrive, so Raf got them to help a few more children that were on the course as they pass too. Charlotte needed a little help balancing as the poles were just out of reach for her but all in all she and the other did quite well; giving the toddlers a high five in thanks.

Then there were the swinging chained tyres. Cam tried to step on the top of them and hold onto the chains but that clearly wasn’t the right way to go about it as he kept slipping off, Jason tried to put his foot in the middle but that was too wide, even for him; however Evie’s height helped her to do it that way; but Mikey and Charlotte managed to get a swing going so as they stepped on the tyres the next one swung closer, so on and so forth. Jason was miffed that he didn’t think of doing it that way and he was so used to strategically planning this sort of thing.

The last bit was the planks, a bit of team building exercises to get them all thinking. There are a set of stumps, all of different sizes and heights; they need to get from one end to the other again without touching the floor once started. This obstacle had 6 stumps and 4 planks of wood again in varying sizes, each one fitted only the one stump. Each stump was very narrow was only wide enough to fit one foot on it, the bigger the foot the more overhang on every side. They were all standing, waiting to get started, the instructor ran over the rules again reminding them that “once you moved to the first stump you are not allowed to place your foot back on the wooden shards. If you do, you all have to start again.”  
So with a little planning Charlotte laid out all of the planks and looked at the distances between the stumps; Jason was moaning saying that each one would be ok but the instructor shook his head to disagree. With a plan in her heed she just stood just short of the first stump, she asked for the first plank, specifying which one it was exactly, then asked for the second plank. Charlotte laid down the first place and lined it up so she could cross, she did with ease with the 2nd plank under her arm. Again aligning it up she put it just short of stump number three, got the last one by walking back on the planks as she returned she placed the edge of the plank on stump 4 just before stump 5 where she walked to it. Cam came to her next and stood on stump 4, Evie stood on stump 3, Mikey on stump 2 and lifted the 1st plank, handed it down the line so Charlotte can put it just shy of stump number 6 so they can all finish the trail. Bernie and Serena applauded their team effort and no squabbling and minimum sulking from Jason as it wasn’t his idea. 

It was amazing to watch a group of children (charlotte who was the youngest) working out something that adults could find quite complicated to do, even the instructor said that, he has watched many an adult spend most of their time putting the planks fully on the stumps and fall off when they try and move off. That was it the low ropes course was completed, as they handed in their hard hats they all received a certificate of completion from the instructor with a handshake and a high five, he even gave the toddlers one for helping at the peg stumps.

Next they were off to crazy golf, even the toddlers managed to play a few holes before getting too bored. Theo just banding the golf ball around, whacking it in every direction which drove Jason and Mikey a little crazy. Ella was helped by the adults as the children’s golf club was a little too big but it didn’t stop her from having a go and was doing quite well until she asked for Bernie’s help, not wanting her dads at all. Jason used his math skills to get the ball from one end to the other, the only hole he struggled on was any that has moving parts of the course. The windmill especially as it moves with the strength of the wind so was never predictable and it did need to go through the windmill to get to the hole. Serena was also very bad at mini golf; she had no control over the golf club or ball at all. One one occasion she sang it, missed the ball completely and nearly landed with her face in Raf crotch area. In the end Bernie took pity on her as she stood behind her partner, really close, so close that no air was passing between them! Bernie showed her how to hold the club in the correct position, knees bent, hers again directly behind Serena’s with her body pressing slightly making Serena leaning over the club, whispering naughty sultry words in her ear too. Bernie helped Serena to hit it correctly, swung back and then again forwards hitting the ball exactly where she said it was going to go; when she took the shot on hole 4, Serena got a hole in one and rewarded her helper with a rather passionate kiss making the children gag walk away and moan about how embarrassing they are. Even with Bernie’s help and the hole in one Serena lost by a good margin, it was close between Fletch and Raf but Raf won so he chose what was for tea tonight and the pub it was.

They headed back to the cabin for a quick sandwich or three, plenty of crisps, fruit and juice to go down with it. They laughed at some of the photo’s they had already taken, one where Fletch photobombed by jumping up pulling a funny face, it looks as though he is diving to save a goal but the ball had already caught him in the nuts. Serena promised to make them all another photo book album, memories of the 2019 easter holiday.

Archery was on the agenda for the afternoon, Theo and Ella were fast asleep in their buggies as it started, thankfully. Evie, Mikey and Jason were all big enough to use the adults bow, Cam and Charlotte using the children’s one. Lucky they are the only ones using the archery boards today, as a result the instructor said it was a game of family wars, whoever was to lose had to do all of the breakfast dishes in the morning, Serena sagged as she knew it was most probably be her, her aim was awful as was shown in the mini golf earlier.

Game one, Odds. They had 3 arrows each, if they hit an odd number they got the value of the points, if they hit an even number then they deduct the points from their score. Serena, Evie and Charlotte were up first; Serena getting a 3 then a 5 then a 7 with her arrows. She whooped when she got to the board and took a selfie with a very happy face showing her score of 15. Evie got a 5 then a 6 then a 9 so she was happy with a score of 8, Charlotte surprised them all by hitting 3 7’s all in a cluster making her the leader by a good margin with a score of 21. Raf, Fletch and Bernie were up next. The lead didn’t last very long when Bernie hit 3 9’s and the instructor shouted which emergency service she required, which made them all laugh. Serena took a picture of Bernie and her board. Raf didn’t hit anything at all, in fact he hit the hay bails at the back of the sports hall. Meanwhile Fletch got a 1 a two and then a 3, as he wasn’t losing he didn’t mind his score of 1 compared to his husbands big fat 0 as he shouted out when he got his arrows out of the target area. The kids all stood in front of Raf crossing their arms in an ‘X’ with him pulling a faux hurt, sad face; Serena quickly taking the picture so Cam, Mikey and Jason could have a go. Jason’s first shot was way off the mark but on the board, he took of his glasses and had another go; this time he got a 7 and a 5 in that order to which he was very happy with. Cam got 3 3’s, the instructor shouting for 3 tea’s for Cameron, he looked at him puzzled so he explained that in the bingo world 3 stands for tea. Still a little perplexed, he just smiled and gave him a high five. Mikey did the same as his dad, not got a one on his board, the instructor watched him and asked him to swap to a left handed one and gave him 3 more arrows and to try again. This time Mikey got a 9 and 2 3’s. Serena promised that his first go didn’t count as they weren’t aware that they needed a different bow for people who were left handed, so on his score sheet was 15.

Game two was evens, again Bernie thrashed them all, and Raf yet again didn’t get a one on the board; The kids improved with each go. 

Game three was a balloon game, if they hit the balloons and burst it then they had 20 points, plus wherever their arrow landed, to make a bit of a joke with Raf, the instructor stuck some balloons on the haystack stating he can have an extra 5 points if he bursts them, after all he needs to get his score up. Again Serena, Charlotte and Evie were up first. Charlotte squealed when she hit the balloon and got the arrow straight in on the bullseye earning her a total of 30 points for her 1st arrow, she turns around to Bernie, forks her fingers to her eyes and then back at Bernie sticking her tongue out, Serena laughs and Bernie does the same back to her daughter. After that Charlotte gets 2 9’s with no more balloons, a great score of 38 was her total for this round. Serena gets a good score of 9, 8 and 9 but no balloon again happy she just got on the board and there was no way she was doing the dishes in the morning. Evie surprised them all by hitting 3 balloons, one with no points as it was outside of the circles but on the board, one with an additional 3 points on and the final arrow hitting a six, so with a score of 69 the adults smiled knowingly but didn’t let on the reason behind it.

Raf, Bernie and Fletch were up next and Bernie was after blood. She needs to beat her daughter so she doesn’t get any stick about losing to her youngest daughter. She does get her arrows on the board hitting the centre of the bullseye, she even managed to touch the ballon on each occasion but as it skimmed it and it didn’t burst to her annoyance and Charlotte’s delight. So with a score of 30 so overall she was still winning, (the adults) only just. Raf again did appallingly, not hitting one balloon or the board, now with the loser sign on their foreheads he promises to do the breakfast dishes anyway, there was no way he could pull it back and not lose. In all honestly, he takes all the ribbing with good grace. Fletch didn’t do much better, he got on the board but no balloons, with a score of 7 he promises to help Raf with the dishes.

Mikey, Jason and Cam are last to go. Evie gets on the board with 3 9’s, everyone shouting this time ‘what emergency service do you require’ she flushes and shrugs. Jason does well hitting one ballon on number 5 and then getting a further 2 5’s, the instructor doing a dance shouting for all the kids to jump and jive, another bingo call. Mikey did rather well, he got 2 balloons but they were not on the board, they were the ones that were put up for Raf as a joke, he claimed the 20 points each though. His last arrow hit the bullseye of Jason’s board, the wayward arrow wasn’t put in the holder properly so when it was fired, it skewed to the right, the instructor allowed the 10 points even though it wasn’t on his own board.  
All in all, it was a good hour, they thanked the instructor, they took a few more photographs with him in it and then with there certificates of participation before heading to the park, Mikey heading back to get the ball from the lodge.

Theo and Ella had woken up when they heard the other children playing on the park. As soon as they finished their juice they headed into the toddler park to play on the trampolines. Raf, Mikey, Cam and Fletch went for a kick around on the astro turf mini football pitch, Evie went to the shop and Charlotte was happily playing on the swings. Knowing they were all safe, Serena and Bernie watched the toddlers, Bernie running and chasing them around, today she is a bear and they are retelling their favourite story ‘Going on a Bear hunt.’ Bernie crawls through the tunnel, almost fitting inside it, Serena snaps a picture of the children pushing her back in the tunnel, her head is sticking out one end and her feet the other, just as she snapped the picture Ella and Theo had the biggest smile on their faces that she had ever seen, she couldn’t wait to send it to the lads so on the group WhatsApp so they all have a copy.   
Jason was happily sitting on the bench, reading something or other on his phone, as much as he liked the park, he would rather be learning something so they left him to it, he knew where they were if he wanted to join in. Eventually he did, he spent some time with Charlotte on the see-saw and swings as she needed a little help to which he was very happy to oblige.

They decided on an early tea, with the prospect of chip butties for supper after the roller skating, their action packed day meant that they were all rather hungry. Going into the pub early has its advantages, they get the best seats in there, with a good view of the beach and fresh, hot food as it is curry Wednesday at the pub. To everyones delight here are a few curries to choose from, buffet style so they can have as much as they want, even taster bowls too; there is a pile of naan bread of various flavours, dips and chutneys. On the starters area there are the onion bhajhi’s; these are like mini footballs they are so big, Charlotte eyes them up and takes the biggest one before skipping back to the table. They all watch in amazement as she devours the whole thing and then goes back for her main meal. Jason is happy too, he isn’t a massive lover of rice so he opts for garlic naan bread and chips to go with his korma, he does however try a little of Evie’s creamy tikka, he enjoys it far more than the dry chicken tikka that they have at home so he goes up and has a taster portion in a fresh bowl. 

The adults enjoy placing a selection of bowls out in front of them to pick and choose from, each going back up to the counter to refill when they needed it. Serena particularly enjoyed the minty lamb one as she never had anything like that before, as it wasn’t spicy she got all of the children to taste it, all of which did but Jason said he preferred the chicken tikka.   
Then there was puddings, a selection of Indian puddings were laid out too, again bringing a selection over, the children getting ice-creams from the self serve machine and toppings of their choice, they all tucked in. After having a busy action packed day Serena didn’t feel too guilty about having a second pudding, Bernie frowned at her and told her off for being insecure about her body weight again, “you are perfect as you are….. and you know I love all of your body…… I will show you tonight if you want?” She asked with a wink. Serena retorted playfully but with a hint of hopefulness, “ will you be saying that when I am like a beached whale and 9 months pregnant?” Bernie smiled, “I would love you more because I love you more and more each day, even if you were fat and 9 months pregnant, the bump is there to protect our growing child, so yes, I would even love you then!” Tears were in Serena’s eyes as she excused herself from the table, the fraudulent slip meant more to her than any of them could know. That and she had a sudden feeling of loss, loss of her daughter. Bernie gave her a few minutes before going to find her fiancé, Raf and Fletch promising to meet them at the sports hall for rollerskating. “Take your time, she is going to need it I think.” Fletch said, Bernie silently nodded, she needed to be there as support for her grieving partner.

Bernie led Serena out of the toilets without saying a word, hand in hand they walked through the woodland trail, when she spotted a fallen tree Bernie walked over towards it and lent them both against it, she wrapped her arms around Serena and gently pressed her into her body to which Serena never put a fight up against; she couldn’t hold back anymore, tears flowed and she sobbed all while being held in the arms of the one person who truly loved her and made her feel safe. This wasn’t a time for words or understanding, this was a time to just let Serena grieve. A tissue from her handbag was handed over, a small tug and Serena was leaning back in again and holding on tight. When she cried as much as she could, Bernie got a wet wipe from the handy pack she had in her bag, wiped the runny mascara off Serena’s face and kissed her chastely. With a quick nod, a whisper of a ‘thank you’ that was not needed as far as Bernie was concerned, they headed back to don on the roller-skates.

Well what can we say about Serena when she gets a pair fo roller skates on, she is like one of those women in the roller derby, quick, nimble and putting all of the youngsters to shame. Bernie leans back casually and watches as Serena’s tight jeans that mould her perfect backside, whiz around and around the circuit, even managing a jump or too on the miniature obstacle course, leaving a spray of dust in her wake. Charlotte tries her best to keep up, Evie didn’t even bother and the lads were as much in awe as they were disgusted. Raf and Fletch were just happy to keep up with their toddlers on their trikes. Well I say keep up, them both going in opposite directions and far quicker on a trike than they are on skates they, look more like bambi on speed, racing after them, trying to grab the handle at the back of the trikes and missing almost falling over themselves in the process.

Then the music and disco lights start, the main fluorescent strip lights are switched off and Serena goes over to Bernie, holds out her hand and asks if they can dance. Bernie a little wary takes the proffered hand and is led to the middle of the hall. Her too left feet become more apparent when dancing on skates, nearly sending them both flying so in the end Bernie stands on her stopper and Serena dances around her but managing a spin or two together. 

At the end of the session they are all gagging for a drink, sweat pouring off them and legs tired from having such a good work out. As it is nearly 7pm they head to the children’s entertainment arena where they can watch the children’s show, have a drink and rest their weary legs. Tonight is a mini fairy tale night, the rather large bear is cinderella and the lion is the evil stepmother. They go through the story and with amazement the elephant is sitting in the rather large chair reading the story as it is played out. (I am sure I have taken my meds today……will check shortly).   
Raf and Fletch get the drinks, opting for a jug of juice for all of the children as it can be refilled as many times as they want for a nominal fee. The adults actually have a glass of juice too before tucking into their beers, needing to keep the thirst at bay.  
They see hide nor hare of the children during the play, they are all sitting together with their lidded animal cups happy to just sit and watch whats happening on stage. When it was all over they brought their cups back only to go back towards the stage for the dancing to start. Near the time it was finishing Serena and Bernie went to collect the 2 large portions of chips and headed back to the lodge to make a start on the bread and butter so it is all ready for when the rest arrive.

“I think we definitely need the hot tub jacuzzi tonight” Serena says mid slicing the bread she has just buttered,Bernie smiles, “well if I can persuade you to wear that bikini again I would only be too glad to wear one of my skimpy bikini’s.” Serena leaves the kitchen and heads to the bedroom, laughing that deep and dirty laugh that makes Bernie’s knees tremble. She knows exactly what Serena is about to do, after buttering the last slice of bread she follows Serena in the bedroom and pushes her into the wall, they kiss and grope each other until the dulcet tones of Raf brings them back into the room, both promising to carry it on as soon as they can.

Theo and Ella are put straight to bed, there isn’t time for showers tonight and missing it once won’t hurt them. In all fairness the toddlers are half asleep by the time they have walked from the entertainment arena to the lodge, happily sleepy in their buggies. Raf and Fletch take one each, but give the children a chance to kiss their aunties before they get passed, nights said while the older ones sit around the table waiting for their chip butties.  
Serena opens the chip wrappers and places them on the table, Bernie puts the pile of bread and butter there too, no forks tonight just everyone happy to eat with their fingers; Jason including to Serena’s surprise. He is overall coming along nicely, not as rigid as he used to be and Serena is grateful. She thinks that having Bernie and the children around and on top of that Fletch and his brood has made him feel comfortable enough to change his habits slowly. She doesn’t mind him stating that he has to sit at a table, more than anything its good, less on electronics now he has found the world of the internet where he can learn what he wants when he wants and not have to wait for the latest book or magazine to come out. He will always have his ways and they will live with that!  
Sitting at the table Serena and the gents show off the latest pictures, putting the ones that they want to exchange of the WhatsApp chat, Serena rearranging them in order so when she does the photo-book they will all be ready. The children laugh and talk about their week so far, they are half way through and have made so many memories already. They try and get out of the adults what is planned for tomorrow but they all are staying tight lipped. With that they are all sent to be, the usual half hour reading time before lights out. As they say their goodnights, Serena sneaks out and increases the temperature on the Jacuzzi, she wants it nice and warm for when they get in it once the children are asleep.

Bernie goes to get changed, as she does so she places one or two items around the room ready for when they return. Tonight if it all plans out right will be a night of hot passion. If of course she doesn’t get side tracked by her fiancé. To Bernie’s slight disappointment the lads opt for an early night, leaving the ladies to their own devices. When Serena returns she asks after the lads and smirks when Bernie says they have already gone to bed, as she walks towards the bedroom Bernie stops her and scoots her outside promising to get whatever she wants from out of their room. Serena presses Bernie against the door, unwraps the robe that she has on and admires the skimpy dark green bikini that she has on. Twisting a nipple and nibbling at her ear she whispers exactly what she wants to do in the jacuzzi. Serena turns around and saunters in the direction of the jacuzzi, leaving Bernie to get her thoughts together and then follow the instructions given. Turning the handle on the door she almost falls through it, her toned legs just managing to keep her upright, grabbing what was requested she placed the robe back on the hanger before heading out to find in her opinion the sexiest woman alive.

Serena ducks under the bubbling steamy water when Bernie comes out, she waits as long as she can underwater before standing with her bikini between her fingers. “Well Ms Wolfe, what are you waiting for………I am all prepared and waiting and very, very wet………and you are just the opposite, so come here and let me do something about that!” Bernie leaped over the sides of the jacuzzi landing straight in front of her lover and pounced lifting her up, Serena wrapping her legs around Bernie’s waist nice and tightly, Serena throws the bikini over the side and takes the one object that Bernie had in her hand, placing it on the side for later. Serena hitches herself up just that little bit higher so she gets to look down at the woman holding her, her tongue sticks out and Bernie slowly but strongly sucks on it, humming, sending the vibrations down to their cores. Serena frees her tongue and starts an assault on her lovers lips, pulling gently at the curls in her hair to keep her neck a little extended while her other hand is lightly scraping her nails down the throat, all the way to the little dip and then back up again. This happens up until they need to brake for air, mouths swollen and a little red but neither cared. Serena loosened her legs, sliding down Bernie’s body taking her bikini with her, undoing all the straps until it is floating on top of the bubbles freely. Hands underwater finding what they need the most, free hand keeping each other upright and they gently circle each others clits to orgasm, this is going to be the first of many but they both know that the next will last much longer. That was to take the edge off their dire need.

Serena went to guide Bernie to where she wanted her next but she was startled by Raf bringing the tub of semen out ready for them to use, the lads were exceptionally quick tonight and a full tub too. Serena kept herself hidden from him as she could while taking the pot, Bernie waves in thanks and goodnight all while going very red and thats not through what they had just done, it was through being caught. When he closed the patio doors they laughed against each other before falling into kissing once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As it was quite long, I will try and write the rest of the smut in the next chapter.  
> I don't want to make it too long.


	48. Wednesday Night.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoying each other's bodies!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is only short but the previous one and the next one have been quite long.

The kissing quickly escalates into nips, bites, marks being left on necks and chests, anywhere really that they could reach on each other without letting go. “I think we need to make sure that is put to some good use before it gets too cold, yes?” Bernie asks as she tries to free herself from Serena arms; her partner begrudgingly lets go, props herself on the seat and enjoys giving Bernie a little show, after all she needs to get herself nice and wet, she knows what Bernie will be using soon enough. 

Serena coughs to get the attention of the blonde as dips her hand below the water sending ripples, she cants her hips rhythmically while moaning deeply knowing that her sound will go straight to Bernie’s core. The water laps over the side, gripping at her breast with her free hand, pulling her nipple as far as it will go before sending it flying back only to repeat this again and again. She knows she is distracting Bernie, thats what Serena wants, she knows exactly what Bernie will do to her shortly and she will take the consequences.

Bernie watches Serena out of the corner of her eye as she fills the dildo up with the semen; she tightens the screw cap and places the half full pot so it floats in the bubbly water to keep warm and beckons Serena over to her, points to the exact spot of her lovers destination. Serena smirks, dips her whole body beneath the water and remerges at Bernie’s feet, water cascading down her body, over her nice voluptuous breasts, down her stomach, over her brown curly haired mons. As she rose from beneath the water Serena raked her short nails over Bernie’s legs from her ankles, up her inner thighs to the protruding phallus, stoking it up and down with a slight twist, tossing her lover off, as she does this it causes Bernie to moan loudly, throwing her head back allowing Serena to lick and kiss the strong taut neck.   
Needing her lover, Bernie quickly reagins herself and turns Serena around, widens her legs and pushes her so she is kneeling on the seat and presses her front to her lovers back making Serena lean forward slightly, she sliding the phallus in slowly while steading herself, holding onto Serena’s larger breasts.

Once at its hilt Serena starts to rock, using the edges of the hot tub to keep herself in position and steady. She isn’t sure who needs this more tonight, her or her fiancé . Working together in a rhythm, it doesn’t take all that long for them both to come softly, Bernie knows it wouldn’t have ejaculated all of the semen so goes a little rougher, a little harder which Serena didn’t mind at all by the mewls she is making. Serena gives her permission by widening her stance a little more, arches her back so she is almost flat against the bubbling steamy water, her breasts moving freely now in the bubbly water, a jet stream hitting her nipples directly when she is in one particular place. Bernie straightens and stretches herself a little allowing her to use Serena’s shoulders and neck to grip lightly onto, to pull her back harder, slapping their bodies together. With firm instructions to wait for her and not to cum until she is told, Serena starts to beg; The dildo is rubbing right on her g-spot and she has rather tight hold on it with her inner muscles, Bernie quickens and rolls her hips just that bit more so that her own clit is being bounced off the arse of her lover, one hand on Serena’s shoulder, one gripped in her brown locks she tells Serena to cum and slams in her holding herself as deep as she can while they both climax, another hard thrust and they both came again so hard the dildo came free from both of them. Sliding to sit, they both cuddled together getting their breaths back until the tub of semen bobs across them making them laugh hard. 

The tub half filled with semen, dildo and Serena’s bikini collected, they head inside on very shaky legs, using all available surfaces to hold on to. The door is locked, all lights switched off they make their way to the bedroom but not without a few stops as they cannot simply keep their hands and lips off each other for that short walk of about 20 paces.

Due to them needing to the use the rest of the semen quickly they use the turkey baster and lay on the bed, cuddling, talking about what they want to do next year, after Bernie graduates; hoping that their family will grow, have another bundle of joy to cuddle. They talk of more holidays like this one, with their extended family, birthday parties for the kids, football matches and gymnastic classes, science shows and time for themselves. Promising to have date nights, something that has so far been far and few but when they have done it, it couldn’t have been more perfect. Bernie spoke about her course, one of the things that need to happen is a lesson that is observed. She tells Serena about her nerves, states that she doubts that she is good enough to which Serena assures her that she is. Bernie talks her through what she intends to do for that day and asks for advice to which her partner whispers “you have got it in the bag, just be you.” It strangely puts her at ease a little more, she didn’t know what class yet but she has the choice of subject and she is thinking literacy, hoping she has the older class to help her. All while talking they touch, caress and stir inner emotions once more. The touching becomes kissing and the kissing becomes into gropes, nips and pinches.

They both need and want more.

Serena can see the things laid out, silently observing since they got back if she was honest, she knew Bernie had plans for them both but this time she wanted to service the needs of her fiancé, Bernie didn’t complain but added “I put these out for you, they are for your pleasure.” Serena smiled, “oh my love it will still be for my pleasure………my pleasure watching you come undone.” With that Serena spread Bernie wide, using the scarves and dressing gown ties that had been laid out, to tie her into place. Serena rises and waits, lets Bernie think about what is to come and takes a good look at her before she straddles and blindfolds. Serena takes the time to look at the beauty beneath her, all stretched out and panting with anticipation, needing to be touched, soon, very soon.

Starting at her forehead she slowly kisses down her body, traces each scar with her lips; every now and then she changes to gentle sucking or licking, starts at one just to the side and below the ear, one at the tendon on her neck, one above each breast, each nipple, each side of her waist, her protruding hip bones, the flesh of her thighs and back up again to do the other side, then down the centre of her body. She then takes the same path with her finger tips, uses her nails every so often but not deep enough to mark, this is all about sensuous loving and not anything else. When she reaches areas she can pinch she does so gently, making sure she does not to cause pain but to stimulate and get blood to the area, enjoys the fact that she can make Bernie’s breasts rock hard and stand proud just by touch alone.

A few days ago, when on the beach Serena spotted a heart shaped pebble and brought it back; rinsed it and laid it on the bedside table to go with her other collection at home; she picks it up and traces each protruding bone, starting with Bernie’s cheeks before moving to those magnificent collar bones all the way down to her ankles. The cold pebble makes Bernie’s skin pebble itself, when she finishes she kisses it and lays the heart shaped stone right above Bernie’s heart. 

Bernie cannot take anymore, Serena takes off the blindfold as Bernie begs quietly and breathlessly to be touched. “Give me instructions my love.” Serena whispers across her cheek while maintaining eye contact but Bernie can’t, she babbling making her incoherent so Serena moves down the blondes body, tucks her hands under Bernie’s thighs and takes a long slow deep swipe directly into her hot awaiting core making her come instantly but that doesn’t deter Serena one iota. She swipes from top to bottom and then back up again, firmly between her folds, making sure her tongue is wide and the tip flicks the clit each time it passes, in both directions. Bernie pulls and keens one of her legs free so Serena holds it up and wide, she had so much more access than before and needs a little more so undoes the other leg. Placing her hands at the back of Bernie’s knees she pushes her legs wide and up, both meeting mid air, Serena keeping her there with her strong grip and locked elbows. Making her tongue into a little rod she keeps dipping in and out of the ever increasing tightness of her lovers core while her nose hits directly onto Bernie’s clit, lapping and collecting the creamy juices before latching onto the protruding hard nub until she cums, Bernie has to use her body to push Serena away, she is too sensitive to take anymore. 

Serena undoes her wrists, checks for marks and thankfully there were none, puts the items to one side in the drawer and lays next to her recovering lover. As Bernie stirs she pulls Serena in tighter, thanks her for what she has just done and Serena states that she will never need thanking, “oh Bernie, we can most definitely do this sort of thing again but preferably when we can both make as much noise as we want!” To which Bernie sniggers. The duvet is pulled up and they sleep, all the way through to the next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this little continuance.


	49. Thursday of the Holiday.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day out at Glasfryn Parc when an accident happens.

Today they are going to Glasfryn Parc, not that the children know about it just yet. The lads and Bernie are going to go around with the older ones while Serena takes the toddlers and Jason if the needs arise to the beach. Knowing that he will unlikely not want to go and do some of the activities that has been arranged; he doesn’t like sports at the best of times however he may want to do the go karts, and if that was the case they would try and do that activity 1st. When booking the holiday, Bernie paid for all the activities up front, she called and explained about Jason and they decide that his name would be put down on all of the activities lists but she could pay on the day for him, depending on the activities he wants to do. They explain that they do and have worked with people with Aspergers and Autism before, so are happy to give him one to one support and a tour if she thinks that would help him. When Bernie passed this information onto Serena, she said she would play with the toddlers on the park and indoor ball pool until he decides on what he wants to do, then take them to the beach.

Breakfast this morning is at the pub, making sure that they all eat well and are fuelled for the action packed fun filled day ahead. With the package deal that Bernie got, she had their meals included except for Serena, Jason and the toddlers. If they were there by lunch time then they could pay for what they had or have fish and chips at the beach as planned.   
The buffet style suits them all, picking what they want when they want it. Jason sticks to cereal and a round of toast as per his normal routine but enjoys making the toast himself in the special machine. Charlotte has a full English with lashing of tomato sauce and polishes it off to the amazement of the others, wondering where exactly did it all go, “I am sure she has hollow legs,” Serena says tot he others as she goes up for more. Cam had a selection of sweet pastries and covers them in chocolate spread, including the cinnamon swirl; he knew he could only get away with it on holiday so took full advantage, Mikey and Evie joining in for good measure. The adults enjoy the full English along with a bowl of cereal each. Bernie laughs at the confused waitress checking the coffee machine, the waitress is sure that the coffee machine is leaking somewhere as she has just filled it when a customer complains about it being empty again. Of course the ladies and gents didn’t have 3 mugs of coffee in front of them, of course not. 

So with breakfast eaten and someone else doing the dishes they head back to the lodge to collect their bags etc, ladened with changes of clothes, swimming costumes and towels they all got in the mini bus for the hour plus long journey to North Wales.

The park looks massive, Jason tentatively gets out and is immediately pulled to one side by Bernie, explaining what activities they do here and showing him on the leaflet she picked up; she explains that he can have a walk around, ask as many questions as he would like then decide if he wanted to do any of the activities. Jason nodded and was taken over to Oliver, his personal guide for the time he was there. Serena worries that he may not cope in this environment, that it may be too much for him but for now he seems ok to go and look around and explore so she will take that. Fletch and Raf get the toddlers to see the farm animals while Bernie books them all in; Serena stays with the older ones while they play on the outside park, climbing to the top of the rope pyramid to see what is surrounding them.

Jason bombards Oliver with questions, ranging from change of clothes to how fast the quad bike and go karts go. He points out where he feels uncomfortable and Oliver does his best to reassure him, even gets him fitted for a wet suit, to see if he felt comfortable in one, if he didn’t then he could wear a special t-shirt type top that will keep him warmer when doing the activities. He chose not to use the wetsuit as he found it too restrictive but was willing to give the kayaking and wake boarding a go at least. Their final stop is the quad biking field, he is shown the two types of quad bikes to see which one he likes the best, he has a short go of them both and decides that he will be ok on the adults bike as he can use the brakes a little better. So with him happy to do everything he returns to Bernie at reception where she pays for all his activities and food.

Serena begs off first, she wants to be back in time for them all to do the final activity, wake boarding, she wants to see Bernie in a very tight wetsuit. After fastening Theo and Ella into their carseats once more she heads into town shrugging off Raf’s pleas for him to go with her, wondering if the two toddlers would be too much to handle on her own. “Oh Raf, I deal with over 30 children in my class and I will have to get used to being around toddlers again on my own, especially if this does work.” She points to her belly as she speaks. He smiles, nods and lets her leave but only if she promises to text every hour. Anyone would think that she is going to Timbuktu!

First activity on the agenda was the go-karts. Children would go first then the adults, so all suited in blue and red overalls, goggles and helmets they line up. Evie was asked to go to the adult go karts as she was rather tall and was rather squashed in the smaller one, she nodded and sat in the one that was brought out for her; as a result she was put to the back of the line as hers could go a lot faster, Mikey stating that he won’t let her past. Evie is in kart 10, Charlotte in Kart 5, Mikey in number 2, Cam in number 3 and Jason in number 1. They went in the order of their ages which made Mikey happy as his big sister was still behind him, he just wanted to beat her, sibling rivalry and all of that.  
The flag goes and Charlotte almost spins off the course on the first bend, with a little instruction she soon is catching up to the others and quickly overtakes Evie who has just crashed into the barrier. Jason is doing well, not going overly fast but is precise about when to brake and accelerate, he whizzes past Cam and is now in the lead.   
The first lap is done, 2 more to go.  
Cam gets a better grip and is right behind Jason, Evie has overtaken Mikey when he tries to stop her but she quickly weaves just before the bend and cuts him up, Charlotte is happy at the back in her own little world. It comes to the last lap and Jason still is in the lead, Evie and Mikey are right behind him, box him in at the 2nd to last corner when they all collide leaving Cam to go past then Evie declaring Cam the winner.

Its the adults go next and the three of them are so competitive, they even have a bet on, the winner get £10 off the losers. Bernie was the worst driver out of the lads yet again she did have a upper hand with her Army training not that she let on. So before they get in the karts, they play rock, paper, scissors to work out the starting positions, Bernie won so was in pole, Raf was in 2nd and Fletch was in 3rd. The children picked who they were shouting for and the green light was given. Raf left tyre marks on the tarmac as he sped off but still was no where quick enough to get in front of Bernie; Fletch got past him on the 3rd turn only for them to switch places on the 7th and penultimate bend, Bernie slowed down as she looked back, smiled as he won the first round collecting her £10 from the lads as her winnings.

Then the children again got into their karts, sticking with the same numbers, Evie took last place again and this time Mikey got pole position then, Jason, Cam then Charlotte. This time they went on the lights Jason managed to get the perfect start and over took Mikey who was a little frustrated, lost the grip on the bend and did a 360 now in last place. Cam did better this time too, tailgating Jason watching how he takes the corners, Jason misjudges the sharp bend and takes it wide letting Cam get 1st place. Evie and Charlotte not even racing they were just having a chat while driving around next to one another.

Back to the adults, Fletch was after blood and Raf was determined not to let Bernie win. Again rock, paper, scissor picked who was where ad this time Bernie was at the back, Raf on pole. The light went green and they were off, all pretty much level pegging until the narrow turn made Fletch go in front, Raf next and Bernie in last, that was until the 2nd go around when Bernie nudges Fletch she hits him and he turns 180 facing the wrong way and does the same to Raf sending him deep into the foam wall, she was starting the 3rd go around when the 2 boys managed to get going again. Bernie was crying with laughter and Oliver said she did it fair and square. Now the lads were down £20 each!

The final go, Evie asked if she could go against the adults and Oliver didn’t see a problem with that. So this final time for the children and they were given an extra lap; Charlotte goes in last place as she really didn’t want to race and was happy for the boys to fight it out. Cam was in pole, Mikey in 2nd and Jason in 3rd place. The green light signals go and they are all off, trundling along nicely, no scrapes or bumps, still all in their order although a little closer together. It was all rather anti-climatic but that was how they finished and none of them minded, they just really enjoyed their time on the track as they got out of their karts they all shook hands and helped Charlotte out of hers.

It was decided that Evie could take up pole position and Fletch in 2nd, Bernie in 3rd leaving Raf in last place; Evie pulled out £10 from her purse and gave it Jason to hold, telling her dads and Bernie with passion that they are all done for. Her dads shout together “you are going down girl!” Bernie leans over and gives her a high five and the boys tell her off for encouraging such behaviour, she shrugs and winks at Evie. The children give a count down the lights go green and they are all off (sorry we are not at the horse racing!) Bernie speeds past Fletch and shouts to Evie to keep going, she will stop her dads from catching up with her and she does, even if she does nearly get rammed into the foam and barriers a few times by the pair. Evie crosses the line and Bernie hands over all of her winnings to the teenager, who is delighted and gets them all and ice-cream to celebrate. Fletch and Raf weren’t going to giver her, her winnings until Bernie threatened that they will be child-sitting every weekend when the baby is due, to which they point at Evie and give her the money, giving Bernie another high five in the process.

Ice creams in hand and one for Oliver too, they all sit on the grass outside under the tree. Bernie excuses herself to make a quick phone call to see if Serena has been enjoying herself with the 2 toddlers on the beach. When she finally answers she sounds a little flustered and Bernie told her so earning a small chuckle from the brunette, “Bernie darling, I have just been running around in the sea with these too, we are have just ran from the waters edge back to the mini bus and put on their poncho towels which I only convinced them to do if I got them an ice-cream.” Bernie laughs, “great minds and all that, we too have just stopped for an ice-cream before going on the quad bikes. How are the two rotters?” Serena smiled, she knew Bernie was asking how is she coping really so she swapped the phone call to video call just as Theo tried to put the whole of his melting ice cream down his towel. Thankfully Serena caught it and he was saved him from upset. Bernie said a quick hello to them both and they gave an ice-cream wave in return before she was needed to get ready for the quad bikes.

They didn’t need the overalls for the quad bikes but Jason asked if he could keep his on to which Oliver said he didn’t mind as long as he wore a helmet. So Jason did, the others placed their overalls back in the respective boxes and replaced their headgear and goggles before entering the barn where they get the quad bikes from. Jason sits himself on his preselective one, Cam and Charlotte on the children’s size bikes while the rest got themselves on the adult sized ones. Oliver explained that this would be done as a trail so no overtaking was allowed, he gave a brief explanation on where they were heading and where they may have some difficulty navigating the steep banks, if they wanted to do the easier detour at those points then they could do so. 

There were to be 2 instructors on this one and just as he said that Sally came in and waved to them all in her overly cheery self. She took note of all their names and sat upon the biggest quad bikes and headed off in the field for them all to follow. As it went in age order Charlotte followed and Bernie was at the back; they followed the trail up the slight incline to the edge of the first field and stopped so they could feed the horses some carrots, as they made their way to the far corner the horses walked on the opposite side of the fence, Charlotte was in love. She spotted a mottled grey horse with almost white hair, it seemed to stay with her for the whole way until they turned to go into the next field. 

Jason was wary of this field but was assured that all of the sheep would stay away, they are used to the bikes going around so as long as they stay on the path, the sheep would be or come to no harm. Going into the 3rd field was a little trickier, it was full of sharp bends and mounds. Oliver explains how to get over them safely while Sally shows them, each having a go one by one before falling back in line again. Charlotte and Jason didn’t want to do this trickier bit so Sally took them off the centre track and around the edge while the others followed the trail with Oliver. Raf and Bernie along with the others did well but Fletch misjudged the embankment and toppled over sideways sending the quad bike rolling over him and his leg that now seems to be pointing at a different angle. Raf got off his quad bike safely and quickly to attend to his husband, Bernie got the children as far away from their fathers and friend as soon as she could, Sally offering to take them back while Oliver and Raf tried to move the quad bike without hurting him even more.

When they got back to the barn Sally rang for an ambulance and Bernie sat with the children in the cafe getting them some lunch, trying to play it all down so not to scare the children. When they all had something to eat she phoned Serena to let her know what had gone on. Just as she finished her phone call, the siren from the ambulance could be heard so she stood at the entrance to guide it in and tell them where to go; then she rejoined the children who were receiving a free large cake each.   
Sally came back after a while saying that Fletch needs to go to hospital, Raf is going with him and he wants them all to stay here and finish the rest of their day rather than being stuck in the hospital for hours on end; he will ring when they have finished at the hospital which is luckily about 20 minutes away from where they are now. Serena texted to say that she was on her way back via McDonalds as the toddlers were getting tired and ready for their nap anyway. She just wanted them to have some food before they went to sleep. Bernie tried to say that she didn’t need to but she wasn’t going to spend the time at the beach with 2 sleeping toddlers, not when she can be there and ready for when Fletch needs to be collected. Bernie did see her point so she said they will sit and watch the kids together while kayaking and wake boarding, Serena started to protest and complain that she won’t see her in that very tight fitting wetsuit when she appeased her girlfriend by stating that she will don on the wetsuit but she will go last so if they do need to go and get Fletch and Raf, the children would be able to get a go of the wake boarding first.

Serena packed up their things into the mini bus, which didn’t take that long; secured the toddlers in their car seats and put in the nearest McDonalds that she could find into the sat nav, unfortunately there wasn’t one nearby so she ended up calling in the local fish and chip shop to get them something, herself going without until she reached Glasfryn Parc where she could grab something then, not wanting to eat and drive at the same time. The toddlers were very happy to tuck into their chip shop happy meal that came in a small sand bucket with a miniature spade attached.   
It took about 30 minutes to get from the beach to the park where Bernie was already waiting for her, Jason was in his swimming trunks and windproof t-shirt, the others were dressed in wetsuits ready to start kayaking. A shaken Oliver was about to begin the session with the children when she took him to one side and explained what happened quietly so not to frighten the children. 

Serena shook her head with worry when she saw Bernie, she knew it was purely an accident but was worried for her friend. After a quick word with her partner she texted Raf to let her know and not Bernie if they needed collecting as Bernie could be on the water; Raf texted back saying that they only just got through ambulance triage so not to worry just yet. He also said that he was using all of his old jokes up on the nursing staff as he was very high on morphine and was no longer in pain. Raf then sent a picture of Fletch with 2 thumbs up and a cheesy grin on his face, while the nurse has his head in his hands grimacing. She could clearly see he wasn’t his usual self, whatever that was. When Bernie came back from helping the children in their kayaks she showed her the picture, “I’m glad i’m not having to put up with him in that silly mood, he is bad enough at school when I let them all go crazy,” Bernie said with a cheeky smile, Serena knew exactly what she meant, sometimes he could be worse than the children at school.

They spent the next half an hour laughing at the children who haven’t yet mastered how to balance the kayak while paddling, it is a good job that; A, they can all swim. B, they are all tall enough to stand in the water where they were and C, Oliver isn’t in his own kayak as he is lifting them back onto theirs after turning it the right way around. Even Jason didn’t mind falling in, his loud laugh echoing through the park. In the end they all ganged up on Oliver and caused a big water fight, he was pleading for help from Bernie but she held her hands in the surrender position and shouted “you’re on your own mate, you started it I’m afraid!” To which he vigorously splashed them all, even sending some over to the sideline viewers; only for Bernie to get a nearby bucket, fills it and promptly pours it over Oliver’s head earning her a loud cheer from the children. With the end of kayaking and it taking over an hour, Oliver went to get them all some drinks and snacks before they did the last activity of the day, wake boarding.

Sally escorted them all out to the wake boarding area while Oliver tried to get an update from the ladies who couldn’t tell him much apart from Fletch being high on morphine. They said that as soon as they heard anymore they will let him know, he stated that he felt guilty, Bernie reassured him that it wasn’t his fault and just a plain accident. Not that it his appease him any. 

Shortly after they met up with the children who were floating around in the pool, learning how to sit and wait for the string to pull them along. Boards fitted and checked Bernie slunk off to go and get her own wetsuit on, just to please her fiancé. 

Serena was busy laughing at Mikey who did a belly flop as soon as the rope came past, he leant too far forward and face planted the water, Oliver ended up helping him to sit back as he couldn’t quite roll over to get the right way up. He couldn’t stop laughing, neither could the others really. Cameron was next, you could see the nerves and concentration on his face, he just looked like his mother and she shouted that piece of information at Bernie over the changing room door making the toddlers stir. As the rope went past, it pulled tight and he managed to stand a little longer than Mikey before letting go of the bars and sitting heavily in the water. Charlotte needed the line lowering a bit, she held on and waited, again it passed and became taut, it pulled her and off she went right to the end giving Serena a very wet high five. “Mummy, will you please film us next time?” Serena briefly looked around for Bernie until she realised who Charlotte was asking. Serena nodded “of course I will darling,” was her tearful reply, she turned wiped her face with her wet hands and fished out her phone. Bernie returned to see her partners eyes red and her face all wet, she bundled Serena up in her arms only to be told gently she was ok, she was reminded that she was a mum again. Bernie sat as close as she could while she was videoing Evie who was taking her first go; Evie also did well only letting go just before the line ending earning her a high five from Bernie and sticking two thumbs up just like her dad did earlier. 

Now it was Jason’s turn, he watched, examined and calculated how to do this; he got himself into the correct position and waited for the line to go past, but he got too nervous and let go, he started to panic so Oliver and Sally pulled him out, Bernie rushed over and sat at the waters edge with him and talked to him calmly. She managed to stop a breakdown and permitted him to go and get changed as he requested but Oliver stopped him. Oliver showed him the board adapted for people in a wheel chair as he was overly worried that he couldn’t stand up like he could when kayaking and he didn’t want to end up with his face under water. Bernie encouraged him to at least have a go at it, it was their own prototype so he could try it if he wanted, they had adapted a wheelchair to fit on a board so all he had to do was sit while being strapped in and hold on while he was pulled along. He cautiously sat in it, saw that it floated well and he secured his seatbelt himself then nodded to Oliver, Serena mouthed ‘thank you’ to him, for his understanding he waved her off, she took the video back to where Jason was about to go and pressed record. This time he did it, managed to hold on all the way to the end and stayed upright. The other children along with Sally and Oliver gave him a high five. They offered Bernie a go but Serena’s phone began to ring, she shook her head saying let the kids have another go to which they did, in fact they had another 2 goes each before their time was up. 

Serena begged for Bernie to have one go while the kids were getting dressed, Oliver set her up and Sally pressed for it to go, what they didn’t warn Bernie about was the fact that they put her on the other course, on the jump. Serena pressed play on her camera so she had this saved for eternity. Evie came out just in time and so she handed her the camera, she stood with one hand wrapped around her waist and the other at her neckless, she watched in awe as the strong muscular body can be seen through the fabric, she watched how her muscles stayed in control and even in mid air she looked so elegant and in command.   
Just wait until tonight she thought.  
Bernie managed another go in front of the children before having to go back and get changed, with the help of her fiancé of course, who else was going to strip the material off her body? Certainly not Sally who looked at her with envy, Serena pushed her into the changing room and locked the door behind her, willingly helped her out of the wet suit, watched carefully as she dried herself then pounced. She pushed Bernie to the back wall and kissed her with everything she had, Bernie pulled her in tighter, walked her back to the other wall, thankful that the windows are higher than the both of them; she hoisted her up the wall so the only thing Serena could do was to wrap her legs around the blades body to keep herself right where she was put! Serena pulled on Bernie’s wet locks to give her more room to kiss her neck, grabbing so fist fulls were tight around her fingers. All Bernie could do was moan and rock herself on Serena whose jean shorts was giving her the friction she needed. As soon as Serena dragged her nails up Bernie’s back she came, almost dropping Serena, luckily she managed to put her feet down just in time. Each others heads resting on the others shoulders they calmed themselves down, only to hear Serena’s phone ringing again. She prises herself out of Bernie’s arms to answer it, it is Raf, they are ready to be collected. Serena leaves and lets Bernie get dressed alone, she and Evie put the slowly waking toddlers in their car seats, gathered all of the bags and put them in the back of the mini bus and took one last photo with Sally and Oliver in before leaving, everyone saying thank you and Bernie promises to Gove them an update as soon as she can.

As they get to the hospital they see a sleeping Fletch being woken, he rolled as close as he can get and helped onto the first row of seats at the back of the mini bus, the kids rearranged themselves so they can all sit comfortably for the ride home and is Evie sat up front so her dad could rest his plastered leg on the seat, Raf was sitting next to him holding his leg in place. Serena was sat between the toddlers as they wanted their snacks and drinks to which she dished out accordingly. 

It took a few hours to get to their lodge, Bernie taking it a little slower, being mindful of Fletch who was due for more medication and was hurting, that and the roadworks slowed them down too. Before Fletch could take anymore medication he needed to eat, he hadn’t eaten since the ice-cream after the go karts, so they all headed to the pub for a quick bite to eat, lo and behold it is surf and turf Thursday there so all were happy to grab what they wanted from the Buffett. Fletch giving Raf strict instructions what he wanted “please don’t put me any mushy peas on my plate,” Fletch almost shouted across the pub. Raf waved his hand in despair, he has 6 weeks of this. Serena got what Fletch wanted so he could help the toddlers, she placed the plate in front of him and gave him a look to say ‘go one, just say one thing.’ He didn’t, well he said thank you and ate in earnest took his pain relief and waited for the others to finish before having seconds and then thirds, thank goodness for buffets.   
Of course puddings were a must, today they had treacle sponge and custard on, or ice-cream from the machine if they so wished. Serena was in her element, she didn’t often have a sweet tooth but this was certainly one of her favourites quoting “oh that was rather good but no where near as good as my grandma used to make it.” Evie nodded, “but it is better than the high school make theirs, however Angela at school makes the best I have ever tasted.” Bernie had to agree with the teenager, Angela did make some of the best puddings going, they all did agree that her chocolate shortbread with mint custard could not be beaten though, she didn’t use packet mixes, she made her own from scratch and the custard wasn’t thick or gloopy it was just right.

After food they headed back to the lodge, all needed showers. They all were extremely tired after their full day out at the park. With a big thank you to Bernie for organising it all they headed to take turns in the shower, Raf helping Fletch to have a strip wash while Bernie sends Oliver a text to how Fletch was. He may need an operation, he has to go back to his local hospital in 2 weeks to see if the bones are still aligned and are healing properly. Raf is worried, that is getting very close to when the ladies are getting married and hosting their open house party. Either way he would make sure that his husband attends the wedding even if just out for day release.

Before heading to bed, Serena pulled Raf aside and told him not to worry about filling the pot tonight, he thanked her and promised to keep trying until she got pregnant; with a brief hug they said their goodnights and headed to bed. The ladies too tired to do anything more than snuggle, tomorrow was going to be their last full day on holiday and they intended to make it a night to remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this is a little too long.


End file.
